The Fine Line
by blackdragonhuntress
Summary: Armin escapes from the Titans' last siege with Annie's slowly crackling crystal, but he's met with the dilemma regarding both her awakening and his dead-end situation. A prisoner of their wager, he needs to find a way to survive both Annie and their environment if he ever hopes to see his friends again. A divergent what-if scenario in the canon-verse. Aruannie later on.
1. Mankind's Downfall

_Here's a little something I want to contribute to the awesome Attack on Titan fandom._

_A 'what if' scenario as some would call it, or maybe a theory of what'll happen. I wanted to write about what if Annie not only escapes her crystal but ends up in a situation where she can freely decide whether or not she wishes to follow up in her bet against Armin. I pray they won't be too ooc for you lovelies out there who love watching the world burn. I'm apologizing for ahead of time if my writing seems odd and my grammar is too wordy at best, but bear with me. I'm out of practice._

_On a personal note, I think they're a cute ship; I've seen fanfics where Annie escapes her crystal (pretty common fics) and what she does afterwards, but there's too many flowery out-of-character fics out there that bother me too much. Not to mention, many seem to overlook the giant of the trainees (as funny as that sounds) that holds **some** feelings for Annie, I guess. Bertholdt shouldn't be so easily ignored when it comes to this Annie after what happened in chapter 49. He's pretty homicidal when it comes to Annie's well-being, I think. Meh. That's debatable after recent manga chapters, but it makes for good writing material for me otherwise!_

_**Important:** Some elements were changed for the sake of this fic just so you all know. The example is making Armin act something darker than usual, but its still in character, I think. The italics is a character's thought process primarily. I also threw in some ideas that seem to flow with what the story has going for it. I'm not sure if these ideas are canon or not, but I needed something to go by._

_Anyway, enjoy. :)_

**_THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED... Again._**

**_Arc 1: The Wager's Fool_**

**_Episode 1: Mankind's Downfall_**

* * *

~000~

The saturated smells of resin-coated needles and plowed grass wafted in and out of his nose; darkness blanketing his vision and pain coursing through his body like a river of electrified spikes.

Everything in his damned weak and prone form throbbed with a fury Armin Arlert didn't think possible. He groaned where he lay, fisting a clump of shredded grass and gritting his teeth to the nearest point of breaking them. The familiar metallic copper taste coated his throat thickly, his fingertips numbing slightly save for his index finger on the right. It was probably broken since the searing pain rolling from it was comparable to burning it in a roiling hearth deliberately. He had no apparent idea how long he was like that; face-down in the earth of the other, unsafe side of the wall. All he remembered at that second was it hadn't been long enough for him to regain some sense of which way was up and what wasn't right about the world around him.

Well, it was pretty much everything as far as he was concerned.

He rolled over onto his side, a roiling pain blooming from his waist the instant he decided he should move. A rattled cough escaped him next, dirt and filth flying away from around his mouth. Eyes still pinched tightly shut, he tried again to budge but decided against it and remained where he lay, wondering how and why he was out here in the first damn place. His mind was a hazy remembrance of contorted thoughts and split-second images but the more detailed sounds and sights began to dawn on him.

_The Beast Titan..._

Armin settled his pulsing head onto his arm, sifting through his memories despite the oncoming concussion. He didn't dare open his eyes since he lacked the strength in keeping them that way. His stomach lurched uncomfortably, a souring taste burning the back of his throat and effectively replacing the metal of his blood. He curled his legs and drew into himself next; the only thing matching his physical pain at this point was the sense of dysphoric hopelessness that nearly crushed him and his will next.

_He's responsible for this._

The Ape Titan appeared less than hours before within the walls; acting out in a brazen way no one could've dared expect. Even Erwin Smith himself hadn't quite been able to anticipate this. That Titan must've been a familiar of Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie's seeing how it'd gone through the motions of liberating her from the Scouts' hands. It arrived unexpectedly, claiming Annie "did not belong to humans in the first place". It, he, Hairy-turd, or whatever came to mind proceeded to bring with him more than enough Titans to throw everyone into a chaotic state. It was surmised the lesser giants likely originated from _within_ the walls considering the old evidence of what happened to Connie's village; coupled with the wall itself having no visible breach that can be found.

The Beastly one ransacked the populace, his might and intelligence alarming all who engaged him. Many were slain in moments and buildings were leveled right after, the combined forces of all available branches of the Military ultimately failing. The district of Stohess became the exact image of the fall of Shiganshina and Trost; all within the span of a single day. Armin though knew what this meant: It wasn't just an ambush that happened here; it was a hellish siege. A solid, finalized proclamation of an inevitable and one-sided end to this whole nightmare.

Earlier on in the prior hours, Armin and the others left the cabin so they could find Eren, having been kidnapped not so long ago as part of Erwin's larger plan. Sadly, the Ape-ish interloper made it so that they all ended up in a fight that they couldn't back from. Levi was largely unavailable since he had his own battles, leaving Stohess's 'protection' to the Special Ops Squad and the remainder of the Survey Corps' forces. They were the only true Titan slaying professionals leftover in the Inner wall, having to fend for themselves for this one.

Erwin meanwhile was away on an important excursion somewhere else within Sina's confines, likely detained by the King's forces at the time; still, the enemy's arrival had been too perfect. With no Eren, Smith, or Levi among other elites the fight had quickly taken a turn for the worse. Hanji, Jean, and Armin had to take charge of the rag-tag band of Scouts, while the newly-named Commander Hanji herself worked with Arlert on a plan together to foil the Titans. Sadly, the end result was many uncounted casualties buried beneath the town debris and others still fodder for the Titans: a standing testament to their failed endeavor to protect the city and the fabricated peace that kept the denizens sane.

As to the presently injured Armin, the entire disaster stood out in pristine clarity in his slowly-moving thoughts: The Titans, the screams, the tightness and pull of the muscles and the high of the adrenaline. It all had the boy bordering the finest of lines between brittle sanity and total, unbridled madness.

Suddenly, his tiny body convulsed once and he ended up spitting out both blood and bile. Armin cracked open a single eye next, only to realize that he couldn't lift the lid on the other; his right eye remained sealed shut as blood coated it in its entirety. For all he knew, the damage sustained from the previous skirmish may have inevitably blinded him on that side permanently.

_...The Titans probably have Stohess under their control right now. That Ape-thing didn't manage to take Annie's crystal at least, but what's it all worth now?_

Armin normally kept his mouth shut and acted out the good boy role since his friends were usually rambunctious enough without his input, but he wasn't above cursing. With a mumbled, near incoherent "Shit" comment he tried to push himself into a more upright position. However, his elbow gave and he slipped right back onto his wounded side, a guttural moan lifting the silence around him. He was finished here, whether or not he bled to death or the Titans found him there when the sun rises the following morning. His maneuvering gear was in pieces nearby and out of gas largely anyway. Worse yet, he realized he'd die here as Marco had; alone and unseen by any. The thought terrified him, chilling his nerves and bringing tears to his last eye.

Fighting said salty visitors, he pressed his hand to the open wound on his waist; his thin and shaken fingers doing nothing to staunch it. It was a reminder of his ability to outsmart the best of his enemies as Jean once said; Armin having mislead the beastly one into releasing Annie's shard when he snagged the opportunity. However, he received the ghastly injury in the process, the Ape-thing was no fool. He ultimately tested Armin and his companions in not just a battle of endurance and determination but of wits as well.

Less than a day ago, the newly made Commander Hanji was notified of the break-in at the Stohess MP Headquarters; but the perpetrators weren't anything of what the gaurds there expected: The 3-meter grunt managed to infiltrate both the facility and the containment area where Annie was stored. Presumably under orders issued by the Ape as far as anyone can guess, they behaved strangely enough whilst killing the majority of the gaurds inside and scaring off the others. They came in terrifying numbers rivaling a half dozen. They proceeded to extract Annie's crystal and hulled it over to where that heaping load of gigantine fur can get a hold of it. Apparently, it was all premeditated from the start, further demonstrating the Ape's tenacity and intelligence.

The Survey Corps. later chased him down and caught up with the interloper just before he escaped with his prize. Mikasa, Jean, Sasha, and others each in turn were injured in the following battle while many others died. Still, it was Mikasa who bravely enacted Armin's ploy to get the Titan to release his hold on the crystal. A bold team of fellow soldiers underneath Hanji's coordinated leadership tried to net it with some available cables next, Armin distracting the 17-meter threat all the while.

However, the hairy fuck just wouldn't have it: he destroyed what Armin, Hanji, and the others hastily laid out and ended up incidentally tossing the flaxon-haired strategist and his catch outside the wall. The remaining soldiers still ensnared by the operation were presumed to be injured, fled, or worse; Hanji being their only means of order if anything else had gone awry. The darkened cover of the night was enough to save Armin and the damaged crystal from the Ape's rage-fueled search at least, but now he was on his own. Despite it all, something else worse was tacked onto Armin's growing list of problems; Wall Rose's land was now teeming with Titans, signaling one of two possible scenarios:

One was that a district (likely Trost somehow) was breached entirely, but the entrance was blocked off permanently so that couldn't be right. Two was the Ape could've transformed the denizenry into Titans; probably the latter as far as Armin can guess considering it wouldn't be the first. Either way, it didn't matter since he and Annie were both virtually dead meat out here given she doesn't arouse. Annie herself meanwhile had a failing means of protection that began to cave almost the instant the over-sized shifter got a hold of it. Her self-imposed crystalline means of preservation was crushed by the Beast's grip, her fall afterwards further weakening it. He could've been either careless in how he handled it or had the strength necessary to finally break its seemingly impenetrable defense; maybe both. Armin couldn't guess.

Putting the recollection aside, Armin tried to regulate his erratic breathing but was met with no success as his so-called luck would have it. The only good out of this whole debacle was Annie's crackling shard they've all struggled to get open for months. Still, that beheld no good fortune for the boy. Whatever the case, it wasn't like he could do anything to stop what Annie herself can do if and when she decides to awaken.

_I'm having really shitty luck aren't I?_

Armin curled into himself again, recoiling from these morbid thoughts that continued to haunt his current predicament. His mind descended into a slur of invasive ideas of what his bleak future within hours will look like, his infirmaties worsening as the minutes crawled by. He whimpered slightly, his bones creaking like ancient wood as he tried to rise; only to collapse onto his front again. Deterred and losing faith in the situation, he felt himself shake with trepidation as to what will become of humanity in a matter of days. He couldn't rescue Eren, aid his comrades in the appropriate manner, or even pick up a sword and keep it steady in combat. The question of what he can do now was met with no rational answer; his plan to get Annie back from big-and-ugly gloriously backfired and now he's withering because of that. He was losing blood freely and couldn't do a damn thing about it unless he had someone to help, and even that seemed unlikely. He had no working maneuvering gear, no grappling equipment, and he couldn't even use the gear weighing in the damage to his body into the equation.

For once in his miserable, short, and fruitless life he was out of options, plans, and he couldn't fathom as to how he can get out of the situation. What did his superiors expect out of a inexperienced adolescent soldier who was slightly smarter than his classmates? A path to glory?

_And so the gods finally have their laugh. Are you really satisfied with all of us facing the same bitter, hellish conclusion in all this?_

Just then, a horrid, god-awful grating noise of popping glass shook the air, ultimately heralding the crystal's demise. Armin peered up through his blood-stained fringe, taking in what was before him: The crystal's diamond-tine properties transformed into a gelatinous material that stuck insistently to the sleeping girl within. The gel then liquefied and dissolved, while some bits and pieces clung to Annie herself. Small, fleshy vein-like tendrils decorated her eye sockets and limbs, not unlike Eren after a stressful transformation. The rest of the disgusting majority slowly melted to expose her to the open air for the first time in... Armin couldn't remember exactly how long, but it was indeed a good healthy while.

It was of no surprise to him to see this happening following the attack and release of Annie's crystal shell, but its untimely collapse still left Armin somewhat unnerved. He can only ponder as to what Annie would do upon attaining her freedom.

_Kill me perhaps, given she feels merciful enough to not leave me here to be eaten._

Annie was now free; her nostrils flaring out as she greedily sucked down brisk, humid air. Her relaxed features she'd long wore in her catatonic slumber suddenly and briefly tightened into a pained grimace, her eyes flying open next. The tear-stained orbs were saucer-like and glassy, glistening visibly despite the night-time dark. She gasped heavily and sat up, the motion so sudden it startled Armin enough to make him jerk in surprise. Sitting within the gangrenous mess of her leftover Titan flesh for some few uncounted span of minutes, she tried to catch her breath while puffing loudly enough to suggest her difficulty in breathing. Her large, deer-like eyes were alert, her hand resting over her breast as if to steady her thumping heart.

Its only once did she look around she glimpsed Armin sitting in a slowly enlarging pool of dark carmine, freezing up and let her gaping mouth slam tightly shut as if in surprise. They both didn't know what to make of the situation at first, Armin silently dreading how she'll react to him. Annie herself was merely trying to find her bearings, having half-expected the familiar heat of battle and the din that follows. Her shock was reasonable though when she was met with a painfully settled lull and a rogue, dying servant of mankind layered in blood. To say she was a little surprised was a bit of an understatement.

Annie made no inclination to move or talk immediately. She seemed to be weighing what and why her assumed enemy was vulnerable like this, her eyes loosing their sheen in the paltry moon light and regaining some of their older ire. To make matters worse, she identified him as the near sole-reason as to why she encased herself in the first place: Her suddenly stark, horrible, distinctive and_ enraged_ scowl was proof enough of her anger towards the boy.

Armin thought fast; if he wanted any positive response from her (for her standards anyway), he'd have to be tactful with his words. He also acknowledged that she'll be more dis-trustworthy and maybe even violent towards him, but he didn't blame her in the least considering the events of their last meeting. Their 'relationship' was always delicate since the get-go; Annie and he having barely known one other as it is. Although they'd seen each other on a regular interval throughout the years, it was face-value at best and not much else. At some point they reluctantly knew each other as strangers at worst, acquaintances and allies at best. Now as things stand, the 'best' way she'd possibly view him as was a begrudging enemy and an easy kill. Saying anything to Annie now can determine what will become of the boy within minutes, probably seconds.

_No pressure Arlert; its not like she isn't gonna strangle you or anything... Still, why did I have to end up with ANNIE of all people alone...? I think I'd rather take my chances with Reiner!_

Armin worked his mandible while trying to regain the lost moisture in his parched throat, his eye taking in Annie's unmoving form with steady care. He kept his expression neutral, settling more on his forearms and hoping she wouldn't feel inclined to finish what she started all that time ago. Armin fought against the temptation to gag as well, his throat acting like talking was an unfamiliar notion.

He then mumbled in a breathy voice, "...Good to see you."

_Shit! What the heck was that? What part of "Good to see you" won't piss her off?_

He was suddenly very ashamed of the greeting, mentally slapping himself for the poor selection of words. Worse yet, he found that his own voice was alien to even himself; so much so that he didn't think it belonged to him at first. Annie shifted next though in indication of her hearing him, the reeking titan mess around her hissing all the while. Her silence was expected but what Armin didn't want surprisingly enough; it meant she was contemplating something horrible.

_I don't want to die..._

It was a silly and sudden plea, arising from some dark and forgotten corner of Armin's inner mind. He'd never been afraid to die for the glory of his race at some point, but the instinct to survive was apparent and raw now. Remembering his injuries and feeling weariness and fatigue creeping up on him, he knew better than to fall asleep now despite said exhaustion. It'd mean his demise if he complied with the burden of keeping his remaining eye open.

After a pregnant pause crept by that left Armin to believe she'd never move, Annie came down to some sort of conclusion that was probably the only reason why she hasn't reached over to wring his scrawny neck already: She must've evaluated his situation as hopeless and noted how weak he was; not to mention how utterly alone they were. Her expression was lost to the dim nature of their atmosphere but Armin can guess that she's trying to get back some of her old, hostile, cystic persona so she can have the energy to deal with him. She was probably tired too, seeing how crystallizing herself probably robbed her of some of her energy, thankfully.

Annie then guarded herself with some of the same mask as her older self, her mouth a paper-thin slash and her aura_ far_ from benign. She wrested herself free from the worse of her mess as well, never nearing the young man she was so focused on glaring at with all her heart and soul. Shoulders squaring rigidly, she scowled and bared her teeth, her fingers curling into trembling fists.

"..._**YOU**_."

Her first word to him came out more like a sinful curse; like she was trying to damn and shame and hate Armin for everything he was and stood for. She leaned toward him and pointedly jabbed at him, almost spitting at that, "You _hateful, conniving, stupid, fucking worm-eaten** bastard**_. Where in the **Hell** am I now?"

_Hello to you too._

Armin smiled wanly, funnily relieved that she hasn't decided to follow-up on their past 'wager' as a form of greeting yet; insults were better than physical violence at least. A shudder suddenly snaked its way up his spine and a deep cold gripped his fingertips, chilling his nerves next; his sweat made him feel both clammy and slimy. Its vice was an eerie resemblance of a Titan's hand fisting around him, minus the cascading heat that normally follows. He knew death wasn't that far away by now.

"...Out i-in Rose's open fields," he had no idea where he got the strength to speak but he knew it wouldn't last. "We're here because we were attacked by something rather unpleasant."

Armin said that so calmly that he creeped himself out.

Annie's next expression was not so easily seen but her shuffling shoulders gave him an idea of what she was contemplating. Her voice lessened the amount of threat, but the words were still as pointed as barbs, "_Rose-?_ Weren't we in... Stohess?"

"Was," came the short reply. He silently dreaded what she'd do next.

Thankfully, she chose to continue talking, her profile indicating that she was wrinkling her nose. Her flat monotone voice contained no feeling, concern nor relief as she asked, "Are you... actually dying?"

It was a basic question, and one Armin knew he couldn't lie about even if he wanted to. "It seems that way, isn't it?" Armin felt his lip twitch in mock amusement, "I stopped feeling much as it is. Why ask?"

"The blood smell... Its thick."

"Ah."

Armin slumped forward onto his arms, finding a poorly placed humor in her surprisingly kind-of neutral reception of him thus so far. His waist throbbed yet again as a protest but it didn't seem to largely hurt as much anymore. He wasn't sure if he should be happy about it's sudden disappearance since it meant he'd soon be beyond help, given Annie remotely considered rendering him her aid. Armin's failing senses didn't catch Annie's sideways stare or grim, calculating expression; his vision had been shitty ever since he fell down here.

_I guess I shouldn't worry about being eaten after all; I won't live to see the sunrise at this rate._

The next reaction that came from Armin's mouth he knew he could safely chalk up to his failing health, "Does a... dying human smell that badly of death or can you just sense it? Or maybe it's only after they die can you really smell it?"

Annie's reaction had Armin believing that she took his dying commentary as an insult.

Great; another reason to piss her off.

"Why would that matter to you? Worried that you'd smell that terribly offensive to my 'Titan-sized' nose?" Her voice held that biting edge that always threw Armin off his guard, although the comment itself was something that was a reference to their past during training. Some people like Connie had dared say this much without trying to let Annie hear it, but she did anyway whether its gossip or he was just too oblivious to her presence.

"N-no. I was just-" He stuttered.

A heavy sigh, and then, "...Forget it."

"Eh?"

Her hands crept to her eyes and peeled away some of the dripping residue of her imprisonment. She tried to keep the wobble out of her voice as she began again as if Armin was no longer there; her words a repeat of what she admitted to him many months ago. Her anger seemed no longer present, as if she was too exhausted to hold onto it, "-I've... failed."

"Huh?"

"-In my mission... as a warrior," she shook her head, not hearing him. "You're nearly dead now but it wasn't of my account; I didn't have the resolve to finish you when I had the chance... Pfft. I didn't back any of my wagers, I haven't succeeded in capturing Eren, and I didn't finish the mission. If I went home now, I'd look even more the fool." Her shoulders slumped as her hand fell back into her lap, resignation breaking the monotone nature of her voice. "I-I... might as well be dead too," she mumbled. "What the ever loving fuck can I do now?"

_Angry one second and sad the next; she's not okay in the head right now._

Armin closed his one eye, unable to keep it open anymore. He blamed his condition for his shortening temper as well as lacking of tact, "What does it matter? Humanity's finished anyway. Feeling sorry for yourself now and getting pity from me won't cut it this time, Annie. You're not the only victem here."

This information and rather blunt retort startled Annie initially. She inclined her head and cocked one side of her lip, grumbling in a falsely offended voice, "How cruel of you, Armin. I'm hurt."

"Hmmf. If you're so hurt about it then, flatten me and finish what the Ape started. Finish your wager for all I care."

Despite the cutting, sarcastic words, Armin found that he indeed meant for Annie to follow up in what should've been inevitable. His death was crawling by too slowly; he wanted this suffering to be over now if anything. As afraid of death as he was, being rid of the responsibilities that he had to take every time he stepped seemed nice. The regrets of those he failed, the impossibility of his humbled dream, all of it was too daunting to bear any longer. An infinite cut to black seemed to be an out that didn't seem to be so repugnant with further thought.

Annie meanwhile shook off the stab at her nerves, obviously not taking him seriously despite how genuine the comment was. She mouthed "...Ape?" as if that was the only thing she heard, immediately growing quiet at its mention. Annie considered something else before inquiring further in a faraway voice lacking inflection, "Did you... did you really see the Beast Titan? ...There must be Titans in Stohess then-?"

"Yeah," his voice grew more whispery but resentful sounding.

"Then do you know about-?"

"Reiner and Bertholdt, yes. Cohorts of yours if I'm not mistaken."

"And Eren is-?"

"-Captured and liable to be eaten for his power, I think."

"And the others-?"

"Fighting the dirty Ape and probably losing to him while the rest of us try to usurp the false King. I know what's going on for the most part."

_Just hurry it up Annie. What do I have to insult you with before you bother to kill me?_

Annie's silhouette seemed to nod in pensive acceptance to Armin's rather sickly concise answers. She contemplated something else for a second before mumbling more to herself, "No... That can't be right... If he's here, then that means-"

She trailed off mysteriously, as if in pure and genuine disbelief of the Titan's very existence. The silence that followed though was long, Annie trying to mentally recover from the news that rattled her normally stoic composure. She moved her shoulders as if to shake herself free of some tangible weight, shivering slightly as the humid, brisk, and yet chilly air slapped her moistened clothes.

After some extensive pause, she added in her typical monotone, "Do you... have a light at all?"

Armin shook his head in answer, realizing too late that that was a mistake; a new headache arrived with a wave of nausea clenching at his mid-section. He let out a hollow gasp and sputtered; Annie stiffening when she heard him spit into the sick-covered grass. Even in the near-total blackness of night she can make out that shudder that wracked his fallen form. Suddenly she was ridding herself free of the shimmering remnants of her prison, crawling around the area for any sign of Armin's belongings. The crunching sound of crinkling grass was the only way for Armin to divine where she was and what she's doing. Minutes eased by and Armin found it harder and harder to breathe, his hands trembling into weakened fists and relaxing back into flat palms repeatedly.

_I'm finished here. Let's face it; there won't be any sight-seeing beyond the walls for me. Do I- ...Do we really all have to die in order to be set free? Do we not have any freedom in choosing how we die as well-?_

Something clicked nearby and several times after, not that Armin can see it; his face was buried into the ground too much to notice. Some other noises, oddly detached and distorted continued to originate from where Annie was last heard. Armin grimly started to count how many breaths he was allowed to take before he could withdraw his last, but he failed to keep count. His mind was fluttering about all over the place and his senses were dulling more.

The only other thing that helped him retain his grip on what little focus he had on left was the following statement that seemed to float up out of nowhere, "...You vexing ass-hole. You're not worth all the trouble I've been through."

Armin cracked his eye again, seeing nothing but blood-painted dirt and grass, "-And you are a remarkably complicated pain in both Humanity's arse as well as my own, _Leonhardt_."

That was the last thing Annie expected Armin to say: Armin had employed the use of her last name to emphasize a point, but the frustrating shifter was likely to dismiss it anyway. Still, he knew that if he had any lingering doubts that he was dying before they were assuredly gone now when he thought he imagined the sound coming out of her resembled a stifled _snort_.

A little more stirred awake by the odd noise, he tried to lift his heavy skull off the ground but invited yet another migraine. All the fight he thought he had left in his body was gone. He sealed his eye shut and groaned, barely registering the sigh of flattened grass indicating Annie's approach. He prayed that if she was going to finish him now it'll be quick... and it'll doing him a favor anyway. Armin was always a light-weight in terms of pain tolerance; it wasn't anything like Eren's or his peers.

Had he not suffered enough?

"Are those going to be your last words to me?" Annie's tone suggested she was almost relishing Armin's discomfort. There was a hint of a obscured threat in its composed, almost-pleasant sounding flatness.

The boy nodded against the ground, not at all in the mood to taunt her anymore. He instead waited for Death's cold hand to deal its last angry blow, completely braced for Annie's wrath. Maybe she'll snap his neck in deft fashion, or stick a knife in his ribs in order to finish the job; he couldn't guess. He somewhat welcomed the idea nonetheless since it'd be _she_ carrying out the final deed; he didn't think he'd be so complacent with the idea otherwise... Armin suddenly felt silly for the thought but then again, maybe he did find her a little attractive; dying by her practiced hand wouldn't be so terrible. There are worse ways to die after all.

_Wait... hold the fuck up. Since when did I really think Annie to be attractive before? I mean I know she's pretty, I think, but what the hell am I thinking now...?_

Must be the blood loss that compelled such a strange view as far as he knew. It couldn't be anything else since under normal circumstances he'd balk at the thought of seeing any of his former allies in such opinionated light. Injuries like his did funny things to the mind, coupled with the fatigue and blood loss. It made _anything_ look prettier than it really is; death included.

Finally, her hands descended upon him, tracing along his jugular just below the jawline for some unforeseeable reason. Armin felt his faint heart skip a beat at how incredibly _light_ the touch was; gentleness was alien to Annie and her battle-honed nature, and it was especially surprising to Armin since he was perversely used to being handled so roughly by his foes in the past years. It was a stark surprise but the gesture was nothing at all compared to what she did next:

Armin nearly jumped as pain manifested itself back to where the source of his throes were: her left hand found his largest injury. He was almost convinced that she'd stick a knife in it and rip out what's left to assure a slower death, but she kept the surprises coming. She instead worked to gingerly lift away some of the fabric nearly glued to his waist, the blood having crusted around the edges and sticking his uniform to his sweaty, crimson-dyed form. Her right hand went to work peeling at the layers of clothing still hugging Armin's idle and sickly cold body. Between his raincoat, traditional soldier uniform and his undershirt there was some patience needed for the job, but then the wound started to bleed anew at the disturbance. She didn't take the clothing off entirely but she moved as fast as she could; cutting and working at the angry wound with a knife she located in his survival pack nearby.

Armin was more than shocked by her next motions: Annie carefully patched the injury with some sterile gauze, his profuse bleeding more the issue at the moment. Said injury was just too large to be treated appropriately right now, and there wasn't enough bandages to go around him a certain number of times; which also involved moving him. She attempted to apply pressure next, but it downright hurt in ways that fired his pain sensors back into life.

_Why... W-why is she-?_

Holding the patch there, she briefly weighed how to get the wrap around his torso but didn't follow up since that meant moving Armin too much. She merely continued her work while Armin wished she'd just kill him and get it over with; but of course this girl wasn't such a simple mind to anticipate. Her actions beget more questions than answers compared to most of his Titan shifting enemies, and that gnawed at him horrendously. As always, no motivations to this shift in behavior were clear-cut enough to be understood thanks to Annie's more... 'ambiguous' nature.

Maybe she was helping him survive because she didn't want to grant Armin the simple passage out of his punishment, willing for him to suffer for his betrayal and scheming. He'd wronged her after all, but he had a reason for that; she was an enemy to Humanity for Maria's sake. What would a normal soldier do otherwise to a traitor besides tell their superiors?

Paranoid thinking aside, Armin was in so much tear-jerking pain that he realized grimly he couldn't stay conscious anymore. He shook violently and garbled both breath and nonsense while vainly trying to push her hand away, but she remained stead-fast in her firm treatment of his infirmities. Her grip on him was never dissuaded nor removed, her cold fingers like ice on his feverish skin. Armin wondered in an wordless way why she'd see fit to his obvious suffering in such a prolonged effort, but the answer was as glaring as daylight to him within his hazy mind. He betrayed her and plotted for her capture, and she in return almost killed him personally and tried to do the same for his comrades. Why should he be so cruelly punished for his dedication to their protection and revival? He was just a pawn to their ambitions, and he was okay with that in some way, but surely Annie didn't fault him for that belief?

_Annie, all this pain you go along with... do you really think humans are that unsavable? Or is it really something as simple as hating me...?_

_Or are you... hiding something more-?_

* * *

~000~

Annie was every bit as baffled of her own actions as Armin was.

She did her darnest to stop the bleeding, but it was as profuse as Bertholdt's sweating; not that there's anything funny about it really. He sweated _a lot_.

She'd never thought that she'd be working so hard for somebody else's benefit over her own for once, seeing how she's a selfish person in her own opinion. Still, there was a limit to how much of a self-absorbed stuck-up bitch one can be before being consumed by that festering guise as Reiner had been. He was soft-hearted and social, making it inevitable that he'd fall prey to the whole 'soldier boy' routine. Annie however once believed herself strong enough to resist the lull her so called 'friends' _and_ that Titan's ass Reiner were part of, but it was a useless attempt on her part considering Mina's influence. She'd tried her hand at wearing the ultimate mask of pragmatic boredom and discourage people form talking to her for a reason. Yet here she was, out here in the middle of now infested Titan territory because she let her damnable feelings of wanting to help Armin land her in hot water with the Scouts; resulting in her defeat and consequent crystallization.

_Stupid, useless, fickle human feelings._

A small, cold, almost unrecognizable part of Annie thought she and Armin understood each other at one point; meeting eye-to-eye on certain aspects. She respected his courage and academic strengths while he acknowledged her very human concern and physical abilities. They were both objects of war, sculpted by its ragged hands for reasons greater than themselves. Although she was a warrior and he a soldier at heart, they were both pawns to war's superior forces. She and her mission and Armin with his dogged loyalty to his objectives weren't so dissimilar in that essence.

However, that's where the similarities ended. Much to her bitter chagrin, Armin had the courage to carry out his duties so frustratingly well coupled with his sense of purpose that it heralded her downfall later on. He went out of his way to aid the Commander in her exposure and capture, and he didn't think twice to do it once push came to shove. Unlike him, she wasn't willing to die if commanded and she refused such a fate. It defeated the sole purpose of her place here as an agent of sorts; just so she could fucking get by with survival. If it was a direct order from a superior officer or even the Beast Titan himself that told her to die on command, she was pretty she'd say _fuck this_ and bolt.

Sometimes though, she wished she had her current companion's guts. She somewhat admired people like Armin; who actually (unlike her) possessed the conviction to face the inevitable; even if the world strived to crush them they stood against its will. Resolve, courage, and a willfulness to change how things were were all traits Annie wished she had: Eren, Marlo, that insufferable Erwin Smith, and Arlert here were all examples of people who could get shit done. Most of the aforementioned were unafraid to die for that reason, unlike Annie who performed the dirty act of sabotaging humanity for the selfish, spineless reason of seeing her father again and living. If she couldn't have one thing, why not the other?

Maybe, that was why she couldn't kill Armin all those times. He was unafraid of being somebody she _isn't_, a person willing to die on command. Armin was the kind of person to say "How high?" to anybody who asked him to jump; while Eren would just thoughtlessly do it funnily enough. Annie however was the kind of ass-hole to try and out-think her way _around_ the command. If the effort wasn't needed, then why do it?

_...Tangents aside, that's probably where the fine line is indeed drawn, Armin; one of many to be precise. You're bold even when you're scared to pissing yourself, while I'm a shaken coward no matter what. I can't stand dark enclosed spaces, death, and unneeded risks; yet I had the audacity to try to fight the Recon's elites and duel Eren at the same time? That was pure desperation on my part. I lost my chance to capture Jaeger and get home as a result. I'm too afraid of the consequences of living but I don't want to die either. Its... just not a way to live, but I'm stuck with it anyway._

_But I guess, all that doesn't matter anymore right? We're all trapped in this stupid nightmare._

Humanity's dying and the walls were doomed to come down on top of their heads the more she thought about it. One would think she'd be happy that the mission was completed and it potentially meant she can go wherever she pleased. Titans in Sina's territory was a job well done right? Annie didn't have to continue this farce anymore, but she still felt like there was something left to do.

_Going home now... Should I go for it or will that be gone too? Where would I even turn to if it isn't there...?_

Annie fussed with the injury hurriedly, cursing loudly when a knot slipped and she had to start all over. She suddenly noted Armin's loss of both sense and consciousness too; hurrying her hands and willing for his survival. While trying to wake him up while wrapping the last wound, she noticed his eye was damaged on the right side. Cursing again, she finished tying his waist up and tended to the injury on his face, noting the large amounts of drying dust-brown blood caking his skin and hair together.

_Ugh, its like he fucking **bathed** in it._

She hadn't forgotten how fragile Armin's stupidly thin body was; he'd always been the laggard in terms of physical endurance and capabilities in their class. If anything, he was always in the clinic more often than others if it wasn't Eren and Jean for fighting or Connie and Sasha for getting into some hare-brained ploys. Thinking back on those times now, it left a vaguely warmed feeling then she was familiar with settle into her stomach, a longing for a simpler time conflicting her.

"What am I thinking-?"

She shook her head, not believing what she was pondering just now. She'd adamantly believed that they'd all remain her enemies, no matter what the situation would be upon her reawakening. Despite all of these ties she thought she cut, here she was, sitting in a great puddle of Armin's blood trying to stay Death's hand, its horrible fist shaking just shy above him as if in hesitation. Her attempt at saving his miserable life was contrary to what she'd sought to do originally. The new apocalypse has arrived and she decides _now_ to reflect on times lost and friendships forgotten? Why was she even saving the life of one little traitor anyway? He sold her out to Smith for a reason!

_No... I was the traitor. Even though a shifter never had a place in human society to begin with, I still let those people worm into my skin. Besides, Armin has always kept his priorities straightened out since the beginning, unlike me. Reiner, Bertholdt, and I however..._

_And Marcel..._

_We could never... ever..._

Annie let out a breath she'd been holding, only now becoming aware of the lack of air. Why think about this now? She wasn't a good person; she wasn't kind or sentimental and friendly. She'd never _was_ as far as she was concerned. The shifters just didn't meet the requirements of being human in her opinion, meaning Annie and the others had to alienate and discourage people from associating with them in the first damn place. Yet that had inevitably failed like every damn thing else she'd done.

_'I'm glad I can look like such a good person to you.'_

_...'A good person' to Armin? Why? Why him anyway? Was I not good to the others? For that matter, why should this bother me?_

Annie glanced down at Armin's chilled and rounded features, slowly letting it dawn on her that he appeared somewhat differently than she originally thought. In the flickering dimness of the crackling tiny flame nearby, his face beheld a more exhausted, somewhat longer and older expression that grown on him during their time spent apart. His discolored cheeks still retained the fullness of his boyhood however, while the rest of his thin body was underfed and chewy at best (to a titan anyway). The sharper contours lining his lower jaw was a justice his pubescent aging was doing for him at least, besides a slight increase in height. His wheat-colored hair was closer to his shoulders, his torso having gained _some_ minute thickness in it befitting the one who fell behind the rest of his peers in terms of growth.

Even in sleep though, his face was contorted with a pain that Annie found oddly out of place on his normally boyish facade. His youthful enthusiasm had all but gone, leaving behind this somewhat aged and nearly broken pawn in its wake; a boy forced to mature into a man in this wretched world. It was a depressing observation, but something she could relate too.

She attempted to turn him over but noticed he was stupidly heavier, straining to carefully move him into the recovery position. Was he stronger at all or did she just weaken in her time spent being catatonic? Its not like she felt all that good herself right now; seeing how she was still feeling the aftermath of that battle in Stohess. It _has_ been a good while since she'd seen him last anyway, but has he really changed in the truest sense or what?

_Pfft. Maybe, or maybe not. Who fucking cares?_

Annie wrinkled her nose and recalled that she'll largely be unable to transform for another short while; her body still trying to move back into its usual metabolic needs. Remembering the danger of her vulnerability, she took in the overall land surrounding them and deduced the area deserted for the moment. There was some sparsely placed trees that wouldn't suffice for cover, the Wall sitting behind them cracked significantly in large margins, but that was it.

Annie finished settling Armin down and checked for any other unnoticeable injuries; sensitive bones was what she was met with after a little probing. Armin had a fractured set of ribs and arm and a broken finger she bent back; which caused the boy to jolt in his stupor but never awaken. Otherwise, he can walk given if he ever wakes up. The real harm had been the blood loss.

_Great. The ass-hole who betrayed me will live, given I don't kill him later for being such a dirty bastard._

She sighed and attempted to find any rations in his satchel where she found the knife and striker earlier, the usage of her powers always without fail gave her a dire craving for both food and water; especially the latter. Annie was disappointed when she didn't find food but she did locate the tiniest bit of water leftover in his flask. There was a crack in the side where the majority of the water sluiced through but there's enough for a couple of mouth fulls for her and Armin each. Taking a gulp was all she permitted herself, capping it off and setting it on its undamaged side and proceeding to vacantly stare at the meager fire writhing away in a hissing grumble. As the thin tendrils whispered into the near-freezing air she shuddered and thought about what to do with herself now that there wasn't anymore immediate action required of her in her mission. She can do whatever she wanted the more she reflected on her position.

Going back to the Walls isn't an option, that she knew for sure. If Humanity isn't extinct in the next days if not hours, she'd have to be put to death. Staying out here wouldn't help either, given the Titan threat. She weighed the idea of going home and leaving Armin here, but that somewhat defeated her efforts from earlier; not that he doesn't have anywhere to go himself. She felt herself shiver and curl into a more protective ball, playing with the ideas.

Eventually, her thoughts trailed off, leaving her to bite at her lip and letting her emotions run unchecked on her face. Swiping a loose chunk of hair away from her eye she felt some odd bittersweet combination of relief and loneliness in her isolated state. It felt great to just sit and not have to guard her feelings from the world once in a while, but thinking too much made her more depressed and suspectably helpless of her impending situation. She'd been left alone with her thoughts once already while she'd been stuck in crystallized limbo, and now she was tired of thinking all in all. Still, some intrusive thoughts had turned her dreams into terrors even wakefulness couldn't chase away utterly. Her regrets even now clung to her in a suffocating hold that refused to yield.

_Armin said he knew about Reiner and Bertholdt... I wonder if they're out there or in the walls fighting...? Should I meet them in the forest of large trees? We could all head home if we stick together, but I can hardly stand or trust them as it is; especially that head-case Reiner. Are they even alive? Armin never claimed that they were or weren't. Not to mention we'd have to bypass the next Wall in order to get to Maria's fields..._

She glanced over her shoulder at Armin, whose breath was both thin and labored. The creeping cold of the thick night air was clawing its way into his pallored skin and her own by now. There were no blankets available and her uniform was still damp, adding to that Armin's bled-through sweat-soaked clothing. His raincoat was all the warmth they had right now. Annie reached over to where she last placed the cloak and tossed it over Armin so he wouldn't freeze, then she slid closer to the fire and rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm herself.

_I shouldn't have stepped into Armin's plan. Deliberately doing so caused a lot of this to happen didn't it?_

Annie knew Armin was trying to spring a trap ever since he first asked of her to help Eren 'escape'; she'd felt his guilt radiating off of him in waves. Not to mention his eyes.

_He looked at me like I was a real monster._

_...No... Was that not fear or regret I saw?_

She shook off the idea. Annie and Armin both thought that they knew the other better and placed their bets based off what the opposing was willing to sacrifice, despite their feelings on the whole matter. The thought made the former trainee snort: that was probably the most risky and more daring part of their game. It held an appeal like a subtly placed challenge that enticed the two to lash out; Armin loved a decent challenge and someone like Annie couldn't refuse a good fight given the invite. Reiner's teasing her back in training was proof of that.

The stupid bastard purposely invoked her ire to test the boundaries of her anger then; and although he was decked pretty well afterward, he'd won in essence. He knew she'd fight him and guess what? She fucking _did_, proving the smug ass-hole right; it was exactly what Armin did too later on, albeit in a more unwanted way. Annie herself anticipated she'd follow along with it but simply knowing about it hadn't saved her. She blundered right into the snare despite her intellect telling her to not take the damn bait; and now look where she is: Wondering whether or not she could go home while contemplating the fate of the instigator sitting and recuperating right behind her.

Reiner had told her- No, he had _warned_ her that she wasn't cut out to be a soldier. Could he have meant that she was a failing example of a warrior too? Or is it that he was warning her about her pride?

_No. Perhaps he was telling me not to take the inclination to fight so literally? I was taught to pick my fights wisely, especially ones I know I can win; but that didn't help with Eren last time. I was taught to treat everyone and everything as my enemy too, and yet..._

A picture of a black-haired girl with a parted set of ponytails perkily chattering away like a squirrel on a sugar rush came to mind.

_Mina... Would you have hated me if you knew what I really was?_

Said girl was always willing to defend Annie whenever someone confronted her, out of her own self-asserted intent at that. Mina was never judgmental; she was kind and patient to a fault and although Annie never wanted anything to do with her originally, she was somebody Annie knew she could trust. Trust was a fragile concept but Mina never once left Annie to doubt that the girl would break what they shared. Sometimes, Mina can even guess when Annie wanted to be left alone, and she assured that no one else would bothered her whenever she felt so down. How many people in Annie's life chose to voluntarily fall into a relationship of any sort with her? How many more actually had the nerve to speak to her and be respectful about it? How few were the people Annie had come to know opted to talk so kindly to her?

There were some, but Mina was the only person who can actually answer all of those questions without any hesitation.

Annie only noticed she was crying once her eyesight blurred, her cheeks stinging from the combination of both cold air and hot tears. She was mutely glad that Armin was comatose behind her suddenly; she's didn't want to explain her own damn tears to the guy who stared at her like she was a monster the last time they met. She hastily tried to dab off the unwanted and very visible sign of her sadness next, drawing herself even closer to the dwindling hearth. Her heart had been a shrunken mess for years and yet it now decides to allow sentiment to so agonizingly gnaw at her hateful innards.

_Seriously get a grip._

Armin alerted Annie of his shift between pain and minor discomfort and back again nearby, eliciting the warrior to turn and warily regard his state of being. Armin's uncovered eye squeezed tightly and his brow furrowed so deeply it would've put Eren's scowl to shame. His hand fisted his coat and his back lifted off the grass just bit before he settled himself once again and turned his head towards her. He never awoke, but Annie still didn't want him seeing that she was letting her emotions run tear-tracks down her face. Turning away again, she piled more leaf litter into the fire and tossed in whatever sticks she can reach as well.

_I need to decide what to do with Armin between now and sunrise. I still have a little while considering the moon's position, but I'll have to make up my mind and do something before then. The big question is what exactly should I do with him and if I can even get home at this rate._

_...That is if home isn't a steaming pile of rubble like the walls interior._

Annie gazed heavenward and weighed her situation and actions, but didn't think too long before she noted how _wonderfully_ clear the sky was: It was its own wonder; with no lights from civilization blotting out the fainter stars and smearing the diminutive ones into a non-distinct haze. The ones surrounding the waning moon were unhindered by the crippling halo emanating from it, every bit as lively and bright as their neighbors. The mosaic of blues, violet, deep indigo and inky black were broken by a stupendous swell of milk white slicing right through the middle of the sky. A river of unnamed, unknown, immense celestial bodies flowed through the chalky-colored current in frozen brilliance, their glow distinctive from typical stars. It left the shifter to wonder if there was other worlds out there not unlike their own, spiraling around their own suns. Still, the floating, largely unseen planetoids drifted silently undetected through the vast cloud belonging to their galaxy, Annie having never seen and appreciate the spectacle before. The term star-struck stood out to her just then, her mind slowly moving back to the lost ripples of time with her fellow trainees. To her, this night seemed to resemble some of the hot summer nights at her old home too, both memories of near and far warming her insides far more than the puny fire in front of her.

She sighed.

_Armin... You said we couldn't see so much of the stars while we lived in such huge and sprawling settlements like Trost. It was because of light distortion, right? I just thought you were being a stupid day-dreamer then, with the way you mouth off to Eren and Mikasa, but maybe you were right the whole time. They say those who look up too much lose perspective, but maybe that's wrong._

_Then again, you're right about a lot of things, huh?...I do feel a little better just by looking at them._

What she failed to notice at that moment was that a certain someone has stirred right behind her. She was so focused in what she was watching right now that she didn't perceive the subtle noise of shuffling cloth and heavy breath; the crackling of the fire having concealed it somewhat. Armin moved a lot, but not loudly enough to disturb the girl's thoughts. He noticed what she was doing and smirked, unbeknownst to her.

He then whispered hoarsely, "Beautiful, isn't it Annie?"

Annie spun around so dramatically that she could've sworn she cracked her neck out of place; her hair flinging itself back into her face. What she found when she whip-lashed around was an eye of a deeply saturated cerulean steadily gazing at her own frostier pair in a sagely manner. It was matched in brilliance only by the sky above, but sadly said eye noticed the red-rings surrounding hers, indicative of her tears moments before.

Well, now she was embarrassed.

_God damnit._


	2. The Game's Interlude

**IMPORTANT NOTES: **_I'll be revising and repairing any mistakes made in any chapters, but I'm using a word program that doesn't due auto-correct so I can misspell stuff pretty easily. So bear with me people! Take note of the amount of emotions going on with these two as well; Armin isn't meant to be as mentally stable as he used to be; its part of the story. Let's face it: In the series he's been through some crazy bull-shit and he's injured on top of that. Lets say there's some mental scarring there, realistically speaking. Annie is relatively in the same boat too, so yeah._

_Enjoy it anyway people!_

_**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED... Again.**_

_**Arc 1: The Wager's Fool**_

_**Episode 2: The Game's Interlude**_

* * *

~000~

"Beautiful, isn't it Annie?"

Annie vacantly (if not guiltily) stared back at none other than Armin Arlert himself, active enough to be both awake and sitting propped up on his undamaged elbow behind her. Her gut dropped away almost painfully, his unerring expression focused on _her_ more so than the stars. The thought made her face burn with frustration, but she credited herself with being a real pro at keeping her inner emotions bottled up. Armin mustn't have been asleep at all she figured, if anything dozing the whole time. Her expression pinched up at this, a little abashed and moreover aggravated that Armin might've been conscious long enough to quite possibly caught sight of her red-ringed vulnerability. Looking away, she forcefully leveled her infuriation to a minimum and chose not to reply as her shoulders went stiff with unannounced apprehension. Being caught star-gazing wasn't so bad, it was just that he'd been staring at _her _when he said it.

_Seriously, how long has he been awake?_

Armin twisted his chapped, bitten-through lips into a weak lop-sided smirk that appeared to be barely more than a pathetic twitch upon seeing her reaction. His expression was a little too all-knowing for her comfort. He must've guessed by now that she's been wearing her heart on her sleeve the last while, trying to resolve her internal discomforts in silence.

He then asked in a low-tone murmur tell-tale of his condition, "...What? Did I say something weird or were you still contemplating making my death wish a reality?"

"That's not funny Armin," she hissed.

"I never implied that it was."

Annie shivered in such a subtle way that Armin thought he'd mistaken the observation. Trying to change the subject, she asked in a bilious way, "I thought you were going to die in your sleep?"

The injured Scout found his gaze arrested onto the blood-stained coat spread over him, shaking his head at some unforeseeable thought, "...I thought the same. Unfortunately, you're making it very difficult for me to die so easily. I would've thought you wanted that after all I've done to you; emotional blackmail aside."

Annie bristled at the memory, but then shrugged in a half-hearted way as if to let it go. "You should be grateful I did even that for you," she almost sneered. "I could've let your stupid ass die and I wouldn't have cared if you did."

"As nice as the gesture is, why did you bother to mend my wounds if you say you didn't care?"

Annie wondered if he was always so mouthy after he stirs. She made sure that she had as little inflection as possible in her next response; a practice she'd finely perfected, "Then neither of us could try our next hand in this little wager of ours. After the Hell you've put me through back then, I intend to pay it back in full, Arlert. I couldn't quite live with myself otherwise."

Her reply seemed to pass right over Armin's bandaged skull completely. Somehow, Annie knew without sparing a single glance over her icy shoulder that the flaxen-haired soldier was actually _smiling _more and more with every second that ticked by. This annoyed her greatly. If anything, he seemed _amused _by her connotation of trying to act as cold as possible. He kept his mouth shut and chose not to elaborate on her decision thankfully, but it made his amiable aura suddenly palpable and caused for Annie's skin to crawl in an unpleasant way.

It was bad enough she hadn't forgiven the smart-ass for betraying her dual nature to Commander Whats-his-face, let alone herself for sparing him multiple times. She internally told herself to never do anything 'nice' for Armin ever again. The last time she did something like that it costed her greatly; imprisonment and indeed the aforementioned blackmail aside. She really _hated _him in ways that she could never shake off, but it still hadn't been enough to help her carry out the act of killing him. She questioned what she saw in him that compelled her not to follow up in the idea. The odd query and flimsy reasoning for it arose from a more alien part of her psyche.

_Seriously, what is wrong with me?_

She tried not to display any of her thoughts flitting about like an enraged hummingbird on her face, turning to stare at Armin with a prim look that he wasn't unfamiliar with. She exclaimed rather crossly, "I mean it when I say this: I don't intend to be so lenient with you whenever and whatever the next circumstance of our bet takes place. No matter what form it takes, no matter what happens, _and _no matter who the fuck is involved, I _will_ make my ends right. I saved your stupid ass on a whim Arlert; and its a whim that'll be for my own benefit."

Annie suddenly felt some satisfaction bubble up from within her upon seeing his expression fall, his humored aura no longer so smug. He didn't move after her finalized answer, remaining propped up on only one of his elbows at this point; but his round face seemed every bit as disappointed as could be. Eventually, he settled for staring at the grass in consternation, his lips parted slightly. At this, she believed herself settled for the first time since her awakening and returned her attention to their puny fire roiling along its pit. Prodding at it, a short silence was met.

However, she hadn't expected Armin to say something so soon after her promise. "Is that it? Really?"

The inquiry made Annie's gut tighten; Armin's voice was every bit as flat as paper in an attempt to mask whatever else he may be feeling, but it was abhorringly difficult to read it when it got that way. Still, she thought the quality of it held some semblance of _hurt _in it, giving the illusion that he might actually be saddened by her statement. It wasn't angry, or disappointed, or judgemental, but trully _upset _by her answer.

_Why should he be?_

Armin drew in a necessary breath, his exhaustion still clinging to him. He then asked, "This promise of yours; was it meant as a threat?"

She scrutinized the hissing flame, her eyes narrowed, "And what if it is? Are you trying to make a point here?"

Armin settled himself back into his supine position, his one eye brighter than earlier. With an enigmatic stare he leveled right at her, he said, "You meant to absolve my curiosity with intimidation just now, but it wasn't all that successful. Your earlier, more violent behavior back in Stohess _felt _more genuine to be honest, and I think it could've actually silenced the conversation more effectively. I wonder though; its also contradictory to what you've done for me a short while ago, patching me up and all. Back in the expedition and Stohess, you still never tried to out-right kill me whereas you proceeded to attack and flatten everyone else. That _is _a strange way of carrying out your obscured mission if I do say so myself. Care to explain, Annie?"

_He's breaking me down like I'm some easy-to-read animal. Smart ass bastard._

"Why do I have to explain myself to you?" She tossed him a well-honed scowl that normally without fail laid a conversation between her and anybody else to rest.

But Armin was always the wayward scholar with the plan, pushing his strides further than most, "I'm not convinced this bet of ours has anything to do with your unwarranted actions towards my self-being."

"Where are you going with this?" She fought to keep the snarl out of her monotone.

"-The point is; did you say that only to convince _me_ that your intent really is what it is, or was it really a way to remind _yourself _about your precious mission?" He paused just then, as if for dramatic effect. Before Annie had a chance to answer he added almost in an undertone, "...Or maybe it's something far more personal?"

Annie's eyes went from icy to downright flinty and hateful in less than a second, her voice taking on a more choleric hiss, "Ask another question like that and I'll rip out your slimy shit-smelling guts from your mouth and shove them where the sun doesn't quite shine."

Her tone was all Armin needed to hear in order to drop the subject thankfully. Still, he directed his thoughtful expression towards the shining skies above and said more lowly, as if he's mocking her, "...I knew you were a nicer person than you let on, Annie."

_YOU FUCKING-_

She nearly blew her top just then considering her _extremely _delicate temper as of now; the only reason she hasn't buried him already was because she'd truly acted upon a whim. That snarky numbnuts was probably still suffering from brain damage and bloodlessness she pegged, so she'd been underneath the impression that he'd shut up with the logical shit. Annie mutely hoped that he'd become stupid from said injuries as well, but things were never that easy. If anything, his mind was even clearer and his boldness even more glaring.

Trying to reign in on her anger, she concentrated on their campfire and attempted the cool-down exercises she used whenever her frustrations got the better of her in early on in her life during training. Sometimes Armin was just so puzzling to her it rubbed on her nerves like sand-paper on a bad burn. He was smart enough to pretend to act dumb at the best of times while others he'd just be so obviously intelligent that it made speaking to him difficult. It made Annie feel like a stupid teenager who thinks they know it all was trying to hold a sophisticated conversation with a wizened sage of countless years.

And to think, this fucker was a whole year younger than she is, maybe more.

Another pause in the meantime quieted the two, Annie trying to keep their tiny flame a lit while Armin was so painfully silent she believed he fell asleep again; perhaps dead she added as an after-thought. She never cared to check considering she didn't want to touch him anymore than she had to that night, having her fill of being elbow-deep in his blood as it is. Time slithered by at snail's pace, probably minutes or hours for all she knew but the waning moon has moved in signifigant margins by the she checked it.

The awkwardness of the pause eventually subsided into something that bordered along peaceful, but remained terse as the two sat forlorn in the middle of the plain. Her temper now simmering down back to its usual lukewarm manner, Annie kept her eyes on their fire as her wild thoughts jumped around possible solutions to their dilemma. Annie would never admit to herself that under normal circumstances she needed Armin's superior tactical thinking in order to figure out what they should do next, but her stuffy pride kept her mouth zipped shut. Still, hoping Armin would die while she had her back turned probably wasn't such a good idea; she needed him to help her out _somewhat_.

Trying not to dwell on the many although similarly horrible outcomes of their situation, Annie shook off her unease by occupying her hands with something else. She sifted through Armin's things next; looking between his 3-DM gear to his survival pack. She sighed at the sight of the damage sustained to his equipment, realizing grimly that they'll have to do without it. She returned her attention to the tiny pouch next, seeing what it contained and how well utilized each tool would be. To her fantastic disappointment, their inventory was the cracked flask, the knife used to trim Arlert's clothes, the box of first aid she'd largely used on his heavy bleeding, some matches, and oils that were supposed to light fires or lanterns.

It was a pitiful stock to say the least, and it lacked the food she'd been hoping she might've overlooked the first time she searched it. Cursing where Armin couldn't hear it, she threw herself back onto the grass in a dramatic manner, her mood plummeting to new record lows. Staring heavenward, she tried to ignore the prominent grumble echoing from her tightening innards; hunger always made Annie Leonhardt a _very _volatile person.

_Oh __**fuck **__me. I sure did get the shit-end of the stick ever since the expedition; letting that Arlert live was my greatest mistake ever. I should've let him bleed to death while I had the chance._

Armin shifted in his make-shift bedding and glanced at her, picking up on her metabolic need as if he read her mind. With a grim realization, he noted that he didn't have anything in his belongings that can placate said hunger; either for her or himself. He still began tentatively, "You know, I have a fla-"

"Already saw it. It was cracked to near uselessness. It has a mouthful left," she bitterly interrupted.

"...Oh."

He merely looked up at the stars again and breathed; his brain sluggishly trying to work itself back to its semi-normal, constantly buzzing motion. He then tried after a whole other minute, "Maybe we could try-"

"If you know what's good for you," she spat with some genuine venom. "-I'd recommend you shut up."

And so he quieted.

The two ended up keeping their gaze on the spirals of twisted off-white branches of stars above, dolefully reflecting on what they can or cannot do. Some time ago, Armin would excitedly point out the existing constellations and the histories each had, asking his current companions what shape they liked. Without being so forward about it, he'd then ask them what kind of life they'd wish to lead if they hadn't been soldiers. Eventually, he'd gently urge them to speak about their dreams and help elaborate on the topic as well. And then its from there, the conversation would somehow end up on the most taboo of subjects; the world beyond the walls.

Armin was most comfortable with talking so openly in front Eren and Mikasa of course, but sadly they weren't here to enjoy the meticulous harmony of the skies with him. Hell, even Jean would be pleasurable company in his own stuck-up hard-nosed way. He was friendly enough and he'd encourage Armin to speak his mind. Jean was an honest person who largely refrained form judging others based on their dreams with the exception of Eren, who he indulged on purpose. Funnily enough, even Eren had mumbled that the 'horse-faced' bastard can grow on you about as well as a festering canker sore; his version of saying "I like Jean enough to not hate him".

Armin had to shake off the passing images of his possibly-dead companions. The mere remembrance of them made him heart-sick and left the boy even colder in his fingertips than when he'd been dying. Annie noticed his more subtle motions and almost plain-as-day thoughts hovering around in his head, but didn't say anything about it. Her own mind elsewhere and on territory that used to be considered 'dangerous' for her.

After a few more minutes ticked by, Annie was strangely the one to speak up, her confusion leaking out from behind a normally stony mask. She inquired while keeping her voice as flat as paper, "Do you really honestly think me a nice person?"

Armin focused his somewhat blurry eyesight on her, "Eh?"

The girl kept her eyes centered on a certain star as she reiterated, "I asked if you still see me as a nice person after all that's happened... Because I don't see it."

"See what...?"

_Deaf motherfucker._

"Why I'm so nice to you, you dumbass," She raised her voice a bit, her patience pretty much absent today.

Armin twitched his nose at that insult, but he didn't seem put off by it. "Oh. Right," He mumbled. He worked his jaw in deep reflection before he said, "...Hmmm. Well, I'd thought _you _of all people already understood that."

Annie harrumphed next to him.

He lifted the corner of his lip a little and peered back at the sky, "I could bluntly say, 'it's because you saved my life', but its more complicated than that. Actually, now that I think about it, its not even that at all."

"...How so?"

"You tell me," he mumbled mystically.

"Smart-ass."

With a soft _hmf _he cracked a slightly larger smirk, his bright stare still primarily arrested on the constellations above. The corner of his vision was trying to gauge the girl next to him, trying to see why she'd ask such a question or bring up such an old topic.

With a sigh he continued, "...Well, I guess it _is _because you did saved my life not once, but on multiple occasions actually. The reasoning though stands in question, and when I say 'you tell me', its because only you can answer that with confirmation."

Annie finally decided Armin was worth her gaze. She turned to face him fully for the first time that night other then dressing his wounds and propped herself on her arms, her back to the withering fire. Her crystaline eyes were still eerily shadowed by the angry crimson veins around her sockets, but not as strongly as before. She said nothing, but her attention indicated for Armin to proceed.

"-I know I said that you can be the only person to say why, but the impression you left me started back with our meeting at the gear-inspection," he took in another breath. "You respect people's conviction obviously. I say this because you acknowledged my courage by saying I have 'guts'; although in truth, we both knew I was still a weakling at heart. While being able to conceal your own personal feelings on the idea, you expressed a genuine concern for those interested in the Scouts, like myself. You never wanted to kill those you felt was worth your praise; people who have that same sense of courage. Its not a usual trait I suppose."

"How would you know that?" She couldn't help find herself asking.

He gave a stronger smile than before, even if it was still faint. "Eyes tell a thousand stories," he mused. His next sentence almost sounded resigned, "I saw that look on your face when I said I had my heart set in joining the Scouts. Well, other than the fact you _did _spare me when we met in the next expedtion as proof."

Annie glanced away.

Armin then added in a slightly more confident tone, "...Here's what I think: You probably admire and encourage the conviction some people have, seeing how you lack the trait yourself. Whenever a resolute person has their beliefs challenged, you feel like that trait is worth protecting: Seeing how you spared me and took the time to train Eren, I'd say that's the case. It's unique, and gives value to their individualism and survival. But I know it can go even further-"

He shuffled his shoulder and placed his hand over his chest, his eye still watching the skies above. "Not many have the courage to stand their ground against a Titan, or have the ability to change this corruption that's taken over the Walls; so its a rare to find someone with such strong convictions. The few that you respected you chose to spare, despite what it could happen to you in the long-run; my being here is example of that. As to why you put such individuals in such high regard though... I think it might have something to do with your current position as an enemy. I'm still not sure if its right, but its a guess."

Annie blinked at him slowly as a response to the statement, her expression losing its bored edge and revealing a slightly intrigued look. She raised a thin eye-brow and blew out some air; lifting away one of the hanks of hair in front of her right eye.

Armin, upon seeing her expression shift felt encouraged to continue, knowing she was interested to hear his thoughts. So he supplied, "I can only guess you're heavily compromised because of your role as a Titan Shifter being used to target humanity. Our enemies, the people you work for, or whoever they are have a use for you that completely if not utterly removes the ability to make decisions so critically based on resolve. You don't have this free-willed attribute for that reason... I think."

Annie clucked her tongue at what Armin explained, but he just kept on going without much notice, "You carry a heavy burden, having a mission you don't wish to reveal to possible friends or allies. You've tried to keep your distance for the better benefit of eliminating any detection while keeping the people you trust safe... But then again, you probably just didn't want to associate with them because they were livestock to the slaughter to come. So why name the animals you're going to butcher as the saying goes." He frowned at the statement, but nodded to it in the end, "Maybe that's why you avoided socializing back in the Cadet Corps; if its just for that reason, I think I understand the logic."

Armin's mouth kept on running like untapped water, all the while Annie's face had slowly morphed from the typical expression of bored contempt, to interest later and then steadily forming into the perfect picture of shocked silence. Armin had been able to almost wholly guess on mere speculation as to why her behavior was the way it is and it was just too intimate.

_Or maybe too close._

Armin's voice picked up a slightly deeper and more pensive note as he said, "What I've gleaned from our last meeting in Stohess was that after the gesture of taking my plea for help, even if you knew it could be a trap, you still decided to go out on a limb play along. I know you're smart enough to pick up on deceit, so its fair to say you did know well enough that my plea was a snare. The proof was in you putting your ring on after I asked."

His head turned towards her and his eye flicked to the glimmering metal on her hand, sitting at rest on the grass. "Even though you suspected that the plan was possibly aimed towards you, you went along with it anyway because a part of you wanted to seem good to somebody after all the crimes you've committed. Doing something kind for somebody else makes you feel just a bit more human; seeing how all of your wrongs are something you regret." He wore a hooded look after saying this, as if he realized something personal. He then looked away from her as if shame itself was scorching its way into his mind like a hot iron brand. He bit his bloody lip the next second later, as if truly saddened by his manipulations of her back in Stohess.

_Guilt is so easy to pick up of him._

He then murmured more to himself, "...It's quite possible that you simply wanted to find an opportunity to capture Eren, but after you've said 'I can at least look like such a nice person to you', it gets me thinking. Maybe it matters more to you that you'd leave some sort of good impression on somebody despite it all. Your isolated nature makes it so that everyone wouldn't have anything to do with you, but it bothered you more than you let on." He paused, his brow dipping lower than usual as if the thought didn't sound quite right. Nonetheless, he moved past it, giving a mild shrug.

"Being alone," he began again, his voice reflecting some sort of reminiscent tone. "-It can hurt at times, and it can leave someone desperate for some sort of contact, no matter how much it endangers your life." He kept his owlish eye dead-locked on a single star above, his mind wandering towards a likely reason for Annie's solitary nature. He must've found said reason when he started slowly, drawing Annie into his words with its calm timbre. "When I was a kid... back in Shiganshina before I met Eren, all I had was my grandfather. Having just your family is nice and all, but then you see the other people going about their business around you and it feels like you want some of that normality to happen to you. It just sucks the life out you when you're alone all the time, you know?"

He'd barely looked at her at all during the explanations, leaving the girl to wonder if he was in some sort of pensive trance. Still, Annie nibbled on her lower lip without Armin's notice after this claim. She felt exposed by his conjecture after he finished explaning, but she'd asked for it. He was merely giving his thoughts and evidence on the matter. And sadly, his words couldn't have been more accurate; having a single figure in her life has prompted her to reach out subconsciously, and thus Mina'a influence on her life. For Armin, he had just his grandfather and Eren, so the boy's thoughts weren't without some sound logic.

_If you remove some of the finer details, you start to see the similarities between us. I think I'm starting to see why we understood each other at some point. Dunno if that's the way to say it, but it doesn't seem wrong._

Armin's voice brought the shifter back to the present, his hands now resting on his chest while he watched the descending moon. "...You know, Annie, with all of that said, I think I can safely say yes to your earlier question. You _are _a nice person, even if its just to me for all I know. Even if you'd tried to kill most everyone else, Jean and Mikasa included, it doesn't neccessarily define you as a bad person to everybody. You're good to me, and that counts for something." His face suddenly tinted a few shades redder seconds later, as if he was now just realizing what he'd just said. He somewhat squeaked next, "...A-at least, that's what I'd think... after all that... I guess."

A larger span of silence stretched far longer than the last, Annie's intense set of sapphire orbs sightlessly lingering on Armin, her mind elsewhere. She looked like she was having an internal debate, the look hovering about on her face leaving the boy to wonder if she was going to snap out of it and strangle the last bit of life out of him. It was really creeping him out. After a while though, she turned away yet again, her eyes softening and the trajectory of her gaze aimed towards the cavernous skies above. Her head shook slightly, her hands migrating over to rest on her breasts. She was seen biting her lip in a way that left the weary soldier perturbed for a moment, having never seen her make the gesture like that during a conversation before.

"Armin..." she began, in a soft voice he never imagined hearing.

"Yeah?"

She didn't follow up. Having let her voice trail off, she couldn't find anything to say to him after all that. She settled for watching the skies for few minutes more, leaving Armin to wonder what was going on in that complicated head of hers. However, it was her next expression that appalled him to near alertness, her mouth finally moving and curling as her eyes fluttered shut briefly.

She began to laugh.

It wasn't just any laugh either; it was almost the very same weird and insane fit that left her rolling a little ways away from Armin, her muscles bunching together and her loose hair a golden halo around her scalp. It didn't have quite the same quality the last one did but it was something close, and it was making the boy more confused than before. She laughed deeply, her torso shuddering and her hands untangling from each other in order to hug herself so she can keep from rolling either into Armin or their dwindling flame. She kept this up for at least a minute before it had faded into something softer and more sane.

To say that Armin was completely unnerved was putting it mildly.

He sat up, even though it was a major chore to do so, but once he was up he rested an arm around his waist and the other on the ground to keep himself propped up. He looked onto Annie's formally maddening fit in a puzzled way, his mouth agape and his uninjured eye going from perfectly round to half-lidded in the strange and mixed appearance of deluded mild surprise. He didn't dare speak when she was like this; he didn't wish to invoke her anger if he did. He waited out her terrible convulsions like it was a routine seizure, and then it was only once she too was sitting up that he tried to gain the courage to speak.

"Ann-"

"Armin," she said again.

He stifled his mouth as she let her arms fall to her lap, her eyes brilliantly aglow in the dim amber stillness of their camp. Keeping her attention fixed on the grass, her mouth still shaped into that odd and uncharacteristic show of a smile, she asked in a soft lilt, "Am I... No, _do _I really look like that to you? Seriously?"

He couldn't respond, so he just nodded.

Another sniff like a passing aftermath of her mock joy from earlier escaped her. "...And here I thought Mina was the only optimistic idiot I'd ever tolerate," she tittered on. "-Here you are Arlert, telling me about how you see me as such a nice person because of my stupidity as a failed attempt of my being a warrior. Providing all of this logic as proof and somehow making me out to be so _glaringly _obvious a person... Calling me human, making mention of my mistakes like its such a normal thing, making me sound like a lost soul stumbling its way through this hellish rat-hole we call a reality. It's so stupid, but flattering in a way. Actually, it comes off as rather funny to me."

"...It ...does?"

She looked at him more directly, but it was mostly under the fringes of her platinum blond hair. "I won't deny that there's some truth to your words. I actually do tend to admire other people's resolve, and you were also right about me choosing to be caught in your treacherous ploy. However, I'm afraid that's where your assumptions end."

Her face suddenly seemed older, her smile vanishing and her eyes sunken and dark. Her voice grew ever quieter as she went on, her voice turning into a whisper at the end, "I was no longer a warrior then... When I spared you from a fate that could've left you a bloody smear in the grass. I lost my identity then Arlert; my image of a well-trained warrior fit and ready for any challenge. Do you understand?"

He gave a slight tilt of his head at this.

"...A part of me hopelessly believed that I can act like a normal human being at some point during training in the Cadet Corps. But I was reminded of my position in this useless fight against the Titans during the Trost incident." She ducked her head even lower, "I willingly gave up my role as a warrior because I admired your hateful, dirty, slimy, twisted guts; your courage to die although you didn't want to, for a race's sake that was rendered unsavable long ago. Admiring a person's loyalty to a death wish was... stupid of me."

Another snort escaped her.

"Hmmph. I've tried to _run _from the most dangerous situations my whole life. I went with the flow of the world, helping along the chaos that ensues for my own sake. What did I get out of this?" She leveled her stare somewhere impossible to touch, her eyes almost bulbous in the hollows of her face. "Armin, I got nothing but one sad, horrible accident after the other. I had Mina once, but she's no longer here," She lazily waved it off. "Eren and I... Training him was... amusing but short-lived. I can only imagine what Jean would do to me if he knew what I did about Marco."

"Wha- Wait, you know how Marco...?"

She still didn't look at Armin but she moved her shoulders as if to shrug, her voice a low drawl. "He'd blame me for something I didn't do... Well, more like didn't _want _to do. It was an unsavory incident that I didn't have much control of, I think. It was stressful, Armin, but I guess that's no excuse."

A dry chuckle came out of her next, her eyes weary. A distinctive _sniff _was heard following up, "He... kinda just learned about us and panicked... It was so _horrible_, Armin; the way he begged and _pleaded _with us to let him talk. We had to stop him for our own sake, not to leave to chance that he'd might tell somebody about us, but killing him... Oh God damn that fuckin' Reiner sometimes." She spat the last sentence out in a scathing manner. "-I threw away his gear, leaving Marco suspect to a passerby Titan. But that was _his _idea; Reiner's I mean. Not mine. And then that fucking stupid head-case decides to just _cry _about the boy he said not to feel compassion for...? The hell does he think he is?"

She trailed off, leaving Armin to imagine the rest. Plainly, Annie felt remorse for the incident, and it was easy to see that in her stifled attempts in forcing back the long-forgotten tears. It was still just was so _strange _to watch Annie Leonhardt of people getting so over-whelmed by a death like Marco's; a guy she barely knew.

"The other trainees..." She murmured. Armin looked back up her and listened to her unhinged banter. "...They were interesting to say the least, but a part of me still felt like an outsider during the years I spent being surrounded by them. I looked at all of them and drew a conclusion from each in order to encourage me to stay away from them. It worked for the most part, that is except for a certain few."

"A 'certain few'...?"

Annie pulled her legs closer to herself, her voice without now feeling again, "I still don't care for most everybody. For instance, Christa seemed nice, but she was faking that good girl bit and it grated on my nerves immensely. I never said anything about it, but it was annoying. Ymir's so far up Christa's ass its no wonder she's the color of shit." She paused when she heard Armin snort at this. Annie fought the urge to smirk herself after that. Keeping her eyes on her knees, she went on, "Mikasa's just unreasonable whenever it came to Eren whenever we trained; she'd lurk around like some unholy shadow. She especially hated it whenever I gave Eren a hard lesson."

She gave a little huff at this, as if in bemusement. "-I didn't much like her personality to begin with and what she came off as anyway. Jean was an egotistical asshole through and through. Sasha along with her chrome-dome accomplice were brainless. The others... Pfft. As far as I can tell, everybody, excluding Mina, absolutely loathed me or were completely intimdated. I never cared if they died, so you were right in saying that they were 'animals to the slaughter', but there were exceptions. Eren's interest in my technique, as well as your courage and his. His suicidal views, the way you tick, its what I found to be of more... interest to me. You weren't quite wrong about that," She trailed off like her brain decided to shut off.

Noticing the odd way she was acting, Armin went on to ask, "...Aaaannd what about Reiner? You really hate him that much? Even when he's an accomplice to you?"

"Yep," came the stiff answer.

Armin was taken off-gaurd by her straight-laced reply, but he'd apparently guessed that much from the girl's earlier comment about Marco.

"He thinks he cares about all of you, but he's more of an ass than you could ever believe. He only _really _cares for Bertholdt and our lost home above all. Anything happens to ol' Bert and he WILL be beyond all voice and reason. I could flip him over all day and never be satisfied," she had added with some apparent dryness in her tone. "I swear to the stupid Walls he was losing his mind the more time he spent around you. He acted like Armored-Titan warrior Reiner one second and then the perfect soldier boy the next. Bastard kept projecting this dysfunctional shit on me and his enemies at times. I think that stupid muscular fucker needed to get a good long look at himself in the mirror."

Armin raised an eyebrow, shaking his head in disbelief at first. He then inquired, "Wow. I guess I never did see that... Well, what bout Bertholdt? What is he is to you...?"

She shrugged. How could she feel towards a man so taciturn that even she couldn't hope to peg him correctly? "He's... too distant, lacks will-power and a personality. I swear if I tore out that spine of his and beat him to death with it he wouldn't _try _to fight me. He gets along well with the others strangely, but he stares at me too much. It was a little creepy."

That's when Armin had to know, "You noticed that, but didn't you notice _anything _else? Maybe like Bertholdt's feelings towards you-?"

She shook her head. What feelings was there to know? She felt like a stranger to the lanky tower of a young man.

Armin let out something that bordered a girlish squeak. Annie looked up at him at this and asked, "What? Something funny, Arlert?"

"Ah, no, as far as I know. Bertholdt's always been a little hard to peg as you say but he means well when it comes to you. You should've seen him when I told him you being tortured."

"You told him... that I was being tortured?" She blinked. "That's a bull-faced lie."

Armin shrugged somewhat non-chalantly, "True, but I hear from Eren that he might've been eye-balling you for quite some time. Think back Annie; you said yourself he stares too much. Surely you caught him doing it?"

Annie puzzled over this for only a few seconds before comprehension bloomed forth. She finally lifted her head from staring so intentedly at her shins and mumbled, "Bertholdt... Does he actually give a damn I wonder?"

Armin's eye went from Annie and then to his crumpled coat on his lap, "You'd be surprised. If only you knew of our last encounter..."

She gazed at the suddenly sullen faced boy fully, but he kept his eyes glued to a very fascinating crinkle in his stained coat.

"What happened-?" She pressed.

A sigh escaped him before he answered, his shoulders slumping. "I don't think we have the time to cover all that. It takes a lot of explaining even though it happened within days of your capture. Anyway, you were saying-?"

Annie found her vision once again at her hands, feeling the weight of it all sitting heavily on her suddenly trembling frame. She mutely felt silly for having spilled her guts to Armin regarding her view on matters, but she soon noted that she didn't want to care anymore. It was all very cold again, both the world and her physical being; the fire having all but died in its hearth.

Upon remembrance, Annie went to tend to it but decided against it once she realized there was more light in this dark realm then she'd originally perceived. The moon was low on the horizon, and the stars were fading gently into oblivion; the milkiness of the heavens having vanished and replaced with the colors of light blue tinged with dawn pink. The sun was fast rising and it unnerved Annie. She withdrew her hand and went right back into the serious girl that she was, tossing everything into the pack and mouthing curses, their conversation lost.

She'll have to get her answers, and her mind for that matter, later.

Armin just noticed the slowly lighting line along the flat lands and walls as well, letting out a weak 'eep' and then scouring the terrain for all of his belongings and of some Titans. He found his gear again but it was smashed to uselessness and there was hardly any gas to use in the canisters at all as he recalled. He tried to stand up but he couldn't even get his legs to cooperate; they were asleep. Crawling was out of the question; his arm was fractured and he had a broken finger to work with. Sputtering foul words that would've made Levi proud he turned to Annie and watched her take everything usable and jumped when she threw his pouch at him.

"Its yours, Arlert," she had that annoying bored sound to her voice again, as if none of their earlier reconciliation had ever occurred. "We need to think of a plan and stick to it. Now."

"P-plan?"

"What do you think?"

"Think of wha-?"

"Where should we go?"

"Huh?"

"Arlert! Focus! What should we do?"

_I feel ridiculous. I'm asking this idiot for help. He betrayed me and sold me out and he's a loyal lover of humanity. He's an annoying smart-ass that's hatefully and overly attached to that wretched Mikasa and Eren by the hip and he's such a pain in my ass._

_-But he's all the ally I have left now._

_...The Hell am I thinking...? I'm using him. He's no ally._

Armin stared at Annie like he's never seen her before, his expression dumbly blank and his hands frozen over the pouch. He might've been thinking too fast or not at all for all she knew. She made a threatening advance and loomed over him, her hands balled at her sides and putting out her lip in a way that he understood as an _I mean business _sort of way.

As if waking up from a daydream, he shook his dirty head and recentered his attention on their situation. His eye was clear but his mind was mired in fog. He felt his lower, broken lip shake in a way that was representative of his quick-emergency thinking; but Annie still had to wait for an entire minute before he chose to speak.

"We're enemies last time I checked. You're asking me for help why?"

She squared her shoulders.

"...Don't you want to go home and leave my 'smart-ass' here while you search for Reiner and Bertholdt? Or maybe maybe find that Beast thing-?"

Annie felt her heart quicken at the mention of the fellow shifter, "You really saw him then."

"...Hairy, smart and as large as life. Why?"

"What was he doing when you encountered him?"

Armin's expression became sour, his flushed button-shaped nose wrinkling. "He was trying to abduct you... or rescue you; couldn't really see the difference," he seemed to wave that off in a contempuous manner. "How do you think we got down here in the first place?"

Annie's bored look flip-flopped to shock once again, her eyes suddenly conflicted. This change startled Armin horrendously, reminding him of Annie's emotional turmoil. It was easy to forget that even _she _can be this capable of being so open about her feelings whenever she wasn't being a difficult individual. It was new to him considering her usual reticent behavior that normally exhibited her profound disinterest with the world.

"Where was he seen last?" She carefully ground out.

Armin flicked his bandaged head lightly behind her, indicating the last place he knew off. Annie followed his scowl towards Wall Sina and scanned its entirety, but saw nothing of the mentioned menace. She got the idea though. Armin had earlier exclaimed that the grizzled Titan had been attacking Humanity's inner sanctum, incidentally liberating her of her stony imprisonment. This still left Annie thinking however; she'd been so _convinced _that her job was done that hearing about this bid to 'rescue' her left her reeling. She thought she was free of her terrible and sinful obligations as a shifter; and yet this attempt to take her back was a symbol of _his_ way of saying she wasn't done being used yet.

In truth, Annie was sick of all of this nonsense and was quite fed up with it. She never wanted to go back, whether it was to the fighting or her possibly ruined birthplace. Home seemed so far away and the thought of it suddenly seemed so foreign to her, the path back crawling with hazards that she can manage only in her Titan form. The warrior girl pondered on her home's existence and state of being, deciding whether she was comfortable with the idea of returning to it only to find out if it'd become a smoldering wreck. She'd tried to escape to it before while she was fighting Eren; what was stopping her now?

As if reading her mind, Armin had spoken up, "Well Annie, you're free, and I can't stop you."

She redirected her troubled stare onto the withered soldier, his voice anchoring her back to her impending plight.

At her gaze, he fidgeted but never wavored in both voice and attentiveness, his eye that annoying blank and calculating intensity that made her feel very exposed, innards and all, "I said you can leave, and you really should before the Titans rise and shine. What're you lingering here for?"

_Is he... testing me?_

Annie frowned at him but it was half-hearted; she didn't want to deal with his bull-shit right now. "Why do you care? Scared I'll leave you to be Titan fodder?"

"I could be, but that isn't what's important right now. Problem is, you're still here, and you seem to be having trouble deciding something. You wanted me to help you out, right?"

Annie faltered, but it wasn't that plain to see. Something about Armin's scathing implification bothered her greatly.

_Did his personality... change? I couldn't tell before but now..._

She sniffed, "So what?"

"You didn't leave me to die, you patched me up, you assured I'd survive the night by playing sentinel and you'd even entertained my questions and responded in kind. This is an odd reversal of your personality... Or maybe this kindness was always there?"

She ground her teeth together, "Kindness? Real funny Arlert. I just needed some idea of what happened in the past months; I don't need to be your babysitter any longer. I can and _will _head straight home without you holding me back."

His mouth lifted into a smile that beheld no warmth; it was cold and unfit to be on his normally shining face. His last eye was almost every bit as icy as hers, and it was livid with an emotion she couldn't discern. It was a harsh and rather staggering turn of events, like an insane stranger was wearing his face.

"Well go," he goaded. "I just wonder why you're not heading towards the Ape and his summons."

"Its not like I can do anything about the job anymore; I was disposable."

"Not to him you are."

_What is he trying to do? Piss me off more?_

The sun rose ever higher as they sized each-other up, their minds working in full force. Even Armin's injury-addled brain seemed to be functioning just fine and a little too fast much to Annie's discomfort; he was _deliberately _trying to prompt her to do something, she can feel it.

With a snarl she mouthed, "Are you trying to get me to kill you just because you're a major coward in truth? Don't wanna be breakfast for the walking meatbags out there?"

"Not at all, although I'll be honest here; I don't want to die needlessly and be an easy meal for a stinking Titan that so happens to pass by, just like with dear old Marco," he taunted. His weird expression waned a little, "I could be tempting you or maybe I'm not."

_You freaky fucker. That was dirty._

"Cut the crap, Arlert," She spat. "What're you trying to do in your predicament anyhow?"

"What do you think?"

If she thought she wasn't already sick of him then she was damn sure she was sick of him now.

"You cocky little wastrel," Her eyes narrowed to the very nearest point of closing them. "The Hell are you getting so worked up at me for anyway? I saved your god-damned life and you have the nerve to-"

"You're the one that's getting worked up, not me."

She bared her teeth and breathed venom as she spoke, "What's your point with this interrogation then?!"

Armin leaned toward her and shouted, "I'm calling you out on our bet, Annie! You're about to turn and run away again like last time! Are you or are you not going to finish what you started?"

This rooted Annie to the spot, her words choked off between her throat and her mouth. Armin glared at her with a fury she never expected him to have, his small chest heaving from the extensive conversations they've had previously. He was supposed to be resting in truth, but he was throwing the pitiful remnants of his energy just to throw her off. Not to mention he was a hair's width from insane. What's gotten into him she wondered.

"We can't stay here all morning. Will you or will you not finish the job or would you rather leave me out here to be eaten? Either way I'm finished. I can't even hope to get to wall let alone climb it, but that doesn't matter to you anyway, right?" Armin's eyes were more level and determined than ever, despite the fact that he was indeed in a crisis situation. "...Or maybe you're letting me live because you need my help? Why don't you ante up?"

"If you die either way, then why say something about this?"

He pursed his lip before shifting his face into a calm if not resigned mask, "Because there's a fine difference between leaving your easy prey out to be eaten by something else or actually making the kill yourself. You didn't need me to tell you that; you knew that all along, miss warrior."

Once again, Armin makes a frustratingly valid point.

Annie's fists dug into her shaken palms, her face ablaze with an anger that clenched her jaw and sent acid spitting from her eyes. She only had so much self control but this was very trying for her already shallow-rooted temper. She spun on her feet and stared hotly at the wall and then darted a glance out into the open plains. The choices may have been obvious to her but not the decision. She was torn in-betwixt her role and her desires coupled with a proclamation she'd once made with this dour-faced youth sitting helpless in his own excreta. Going home or returning to the fight was one thing, but the remarkable notation of actually killing Armin Arlert was another thing entirely after her earlier actions. Seeing how that no matter which way she went, she would still have to be conflicted with the idea of deciding the boy's fate.

She should've let him die in his own bodily filth while she had the chance, and yet she just _had _to be so fucking nice.

_'If you don't kill me this time, you won't be able to make excuses like, "I'll see if my bet pays off"!'_

Throwing her head back and staring huntedly at the endless skies, she knew she had to do something. Nostrils flared, a small jet of vapor simmered out and somewhat startled Armin, not knowing she could do even that in her human form; but it served as a reminder of her capabilities as a Titan-shifting master.

_Why is killing him __**now **__so damn hard? I'd saved his life for a reason, right?_

Remembering the purpose of her earlier actions she lowered her surly glare back onto the strategist, whose eye was a fiery glow despite the chilled color of his azul gaze. Annie then forced out through her pearly whites, "I'm sticking to my end no matter what. I'll let you live so I could kill you later, Arlert. I made this clear to you earlier, didn't I?"

"You may have said it clearly, but the meaning didn't quite stick," He retorted.

Her jugular throbbed with a prominent display of an infuriated blood-flow, but her hands unclenched and she was suddenly helping the boy to his feet with a force that clearly indicated how she exactly felt about him and his bluffs. He stumbled as he rose, her hands a vice on his free arm. He hissed at the pain but it mutely gave the former warrior the satisfaction of knowing that he wasn't enjoying this anymore than she was.

By the time he was on his feet though, he managed to unload yet another question to add the fuel to her inner fire, "So what now? You're hulling me around with you no matter what?"

"What do you think?"

His words being tossed back at him didn't bother him as much as she'd hoped it would. He merely went on, "So that makes me your prisoner; a weakling who can't fight nor run. How droll."

"Can't a hunter play with its food a little?"

"You're more twisted than I'd pegged you to be."

"And you're more of a grievance than I'd originally thought you out to be."

"Touche`," Armin's face had that grotesque smirk again. "So now what? The Beast Titan or your lost home, Annie?"

She removed her eyes from him just to avoid seeing his derisive expression; the look he was giving her left her feeling like she was made out to be something of an indecisive coward. Staring at the earth, she weighed all of what she could do with extreme detail and careful thinking. She was no Erwin Smith in the brains department, but even with her knowledge she knew that one of the choices was a fool's errand at this point:

Humanity's finished the very instant the Beast Titan attacked, not to mention the corrupted natures of the now huddled people hiding behind Sina's barriers being weighed into the equation. Remembering Armin's earlier mention of Eren being in possible enemy hands, she couldn't help but shiver at the thought of him being devoured by actual _people _instead of Titans. She'd had no love for Eren after her last fight, and her 'love' for him had only been mutual respect as a fighter and ally anyhow. Going back into the wall meant for her and Armin to do some fighting that seemed to be very overly taxing and pointless. The Titans had virtually won at this critical juncture and there was the added danger of dying needlessly. Eren was still too valuable to lose in the onsuing events, but the Beast Titan was already in the Wall most likely trying to find him; so retrieving him was certainly pointless in a way. There's also the easy and obvious choice of going home too, but it seemed far too easy. She also lacked the 'item' to get her safely into it as well.

Annie's face contorted into a more reflective visage, her mind working at a pace that nearly had her pulling her hair out. Going home seemed to be the only choice, but what if the Ape knew she'd turned tail and fled to the place of her birth? He could be there to receive her, ready to 'reward' her for her cowrdice. That said, was her home even standing and was it worth the exhausting trip there? What could she do with Armin now? What if she went to find Reiner and Bertholdt instead? Could the three of them together get out of this mess? She'd knew that Bertholdt wouldn't leave her hanging and she was sure Reiner would do the same (kind of), but they'd certainly be angry with her decision to come without Eren.

_I'm burning up too much time thinking about it. The choices are just so damn hard to pick from. Why is leading such an easy life so fucking difficult? You might as well do things the hard way if that's true..._

Annie finally landed her eyes on Armin, the only person in the world right now who could help but _he _was the one expecting an answer. He's the captive and he's supposed to be following her lead after all. Armin could for all she knew have the solution already cooked up within those ingenious recesses of his brilliant mind.

_He does better under pressure than me. The hell am I to do?_

Armin's stare fell from the cold all-knowing look and into a more impassive expression; his bruised lips a thin line and his uncovered eye a startling brightness that made Annie's gut knot up. He already knew what to do.

_But should I ask?_

Annie suddenly realized the amount of depth of scrutiny that he was peering at her with, as if he was trying to urge her to find the answer for herself. She unsteadily met his glimmering eye with her own doubtful pair while her mind clicked at a slower pace, her thought processing a less disorderly mess. She fought the urge to shake out her uneasiness and kept her hands to her sides at all times. Two minutes crept by without her knowing it next. It was then, dawning on her in a way that made her feel stupid for not knowing it sooner, an advent revelation decided to emerge in way that rose like the wayward sun into the horizon. It was what she wanted to know all night ever since her liberation.

With the odd but not so unfamiliar look of intent stretching across her face, she'd adamantly announced to her companion, "I know where we need to go, but you're not at liberty to bitch about it as we head out; you're at _my _mercy now. Is that not clear, Arlert?"

"Crystal," He replied with conviction.


	3. Forward

_**This chapter has been revised.**_

_**Arc 1: The Wager's Fool**_

_**Episode 3: Forward**_

* * *

~000~

As if Armin Arlert didn't already have his fair share of bone-jarring problems.

Annie's choice had been to run out into Rose's endless pastures in Titan Form with no regard for the well-being of her only injured passenger and how she could safely carry him throughout the trek. Once again, Armin found that the few fortunes in _his _life were by far the worst out of all his peers and it was just getting worse.

During the initial part of their journey, he started out sitting (more likely sprawled across) in Annie's somewhat curled palm and found in the next heart-attack inducing second that he was covered in her thick, viscous saliva. There had been no warning before he was almost callously tossed into her gaping maw and the light was cut off abruptly. He had to grasp with his only functioning arm the rim of her lower teeth and pray that she doesn't accidentally clamp her jaws together and rip it off. He kept his own mouth clamped shut and closed his eye in order to keep out the pools of coagulating filth, telling himself not to breathe in that rancid Titan air that naturally emanated from the beast's bowels.

He really hated his life. What had he done to some poor bastard out in the world in order to incur this horrible punishment?

_Oh yeah. I fucking shot a person in the head._

_...In the mean-time, Annie makes me her prisoner and says she needs me alive, but with the way she handles me she might as well have finished me off. She's a sadist deep down isn't she?_

He felt Annie move too suddenly and lost his grip on her incisor and slipped backward, too far for his comfort, all the way to her throat. He managed to attach himself to her molar but it had no true edges in which to firmly grasp. He mumbled prayers to any of the holy gods he read in his forbidden books to keep him from being incidentally swallowed. It was a slow death in a Titan's abdomen if left idle and a painful demise if Annie should chose to leave her sizzling Titan body to decay. If he were to be given the choice to die in some particular way, he would without a doubt choose something quicker and not so stupidly flawed as this safety measure.

Outside, he had heard the tell-tale crackle of bone and rumble of the trembling earth; a sheer sign that some stray Titan had gotten into Annie's way and paid for it dearly. It was likely the sole reason why he'd been thrown into this hazardous situation in the first place. Hopefully its death meant that this outrageous scenario can be discontinued. Armin already had been bullied enough as a child by the neighborhood drop-outs, but to be playfully and dangerously thrown around like some hacky sack in between Titans and their shifting counterparts was almost beyond what he can take. He expected some jossing about in-betwixt the 'regular' Titans that came with the job of signing into the Scouts, but not the transforming menaces that were inexplicably tossed into the equation.

It was bad enough that he had to be Historia's body double and the little bit of fragile manly dignity he accumulated throughout the mouths went fluttering out the window after the plan succeeded. The term 'escaping a situation unmolested' had been the furthest from the truth for Armin; the only person that had bothered to pay him any heed was Jean, who attempted to placate the humiliated blond. Even before all that, he had tried to optimistically believe that some people had worse off luck than he but he couldn't think of anyone else having a job quite like this one. He was friends with shifters and unerringly intelligent, so some strangeness was going to be thrown into the job description.

Maybe being so smart _was _probably what caused this after all. He couldn't guess.

Perhaps this fact may have been what compromised some of his life-changing events throughout this crazy year after graduation. He was constantly in danger, almost always ordered to think up some witty escape plots, and out-smart their enemies he and the rest of humanity have been faced with. Still, the only thing he got out of this bad memory was some unmentionable bad scars of the internal and physical sort to add to his almost non-existent sense of self-esteem. What more can he lose? Its not like his life was truly as valuable as Eren's or Historia's.

Armin was suddenly gliding across the Titan's tongue not quite unlike the first time he had been nearly killed, but he was heading towards the _exit _instead. He was unceremoniously dropped like a wet wad of gum into Annie's hand and felt his waist flare up in renewed and crippling pain. His arm seemed to crumble beneath him and he was spitting into her palm, his clothes sticky and heavy on his bedraggled form. He cracked his eye and shook, finding himself peering over the cage of thin fingers and at the disintegrating remains of a 10-meter on the ground far below.

He hissed like an angry cat and turned to look at the taller of the two formidable foes and tried to reposition himself, his mouth trying to work itself against the coating of slime caking him. "Annie! Next time give me a warning!" He barked.

The Female Titan's face remained blank, but Armin was pretty sure she was getting a sick kick out of this deep down.

_Its not like we're friends anyway._

Annie flexed her bony digits protectively around Armin, keeping him from falling from her grip as she went once again into a mild jog. It was lithely smooth in motion but not so much in her steps, her feet slamming into the earth and tearing new craters into its uniform plain. He fought to keep his head from bobbing too much and strained to fight off the migraine burning into his brain. His fractured ribs reminded him of their brittle existence with every stride.

He hoped this ride would end very soon.

* * *

~000~

The sun had already begun to sink before they found any reprieve.

Armin can only gather that Annie was exhausted from the run from Wall Sina; probably as tired as he was of his own miserable life. She had an empty stomach and a dehydrated body to work with, and maintaining her pace for an _entire _day in this manner must have certainly put said girl into an even fouler mood than when she first transformed. Armin commended on her ability to keep up such an endeavor, and it continued to demonstrate her mastery over this shifting power. Within one day of this constant exposure to the exhibition of her strength Armin learned that Annie can do some things Eren struggled to cope with.

Internal rants aside, they were now a whole 'day-walk' as he called it from civilization; meaning that they were far enough to be beyond the hope of returning to it in human form without a very fast and healthy horse. Their choices in rest areas in this quest were either large trees further along in Rose's usually tame lands or the carefully well-hidden hovels in rocky hills that were too craggy to be climable by Titans. It also meant more work for Annie if they really wanted a break and be safe as a result of. Tonight's choice in temporary hideout was located along the river in the distance; whose waters shimmered faintly gold in the waning light.

The thirst and hunger gripped his innards and Armin felt aggravated because of it. The water Annie had meant to save for him he let her have due to her impending dehydration after she freed herself. She also needed the precious liquid in order to get them as far as they did with her unique power.

Following the river was guaranteed to bring them straight to Shiganshina, granted they managed to climb the next wall; but it also meant that they wouldn't be able to take cover in the forest of large trees. At least they would have water and hopefully animals in the area so they may have a chance of catching a life-sustaining dinner. They didn't have of means of climbing the over-sized trees anyway; Armin's gear had been too badly damaged whether or not it needed the gas. Annie had also explained just before the run that she wasn't capable of lifting the Female Titan's heavily built body off the ground very well or far. She _could _do it hypothetically, but not too well.

The only real choice now had been to find a hiding spot along the river and hope to find a hole somewhere within the ridges that loomed meters above the writhing waters. It was dangerous and crazy. But then again, they had no other choice since some blundering Titans noticed Annie's 14-meter form traipsing across the grounds and they wanted a piece of both her and her nearly-dead occupant.

Their lovely drooling followers tailing them not so far behind meant they could not stop throughout the entire day. Armin wanted no part in these headaches anymore but his mind constantly hovered over to the memory of his friends. The images would inspire him to sit straighter in Annie's hand and he let out a breath each time. He was just surprised that he wasn't dead already after all of this craziness.

They were in luck after all; Annie could have missed it since she was trying to get a good distance from their unwanted company, but Armin found it just as they passed a small and formally settled area of recently abandoned buildings. A nice little cavern above the river with a narrow mouth thin enough to keep prying gigantine hands out and grant smaller creatures shelter seemed to beckon the pair towards it. The final problem was that it was on the _other _side of the twisting curls of water and climbing down to it would be nearly impossible without some sort of aid. It was unnervingly close to the rapids but it beats being eaten.

Armin briefly wondered if Titans can swim. It was a weird and wild idea, never before tested as he surmised but it was what kept them from solace. A theory withheld their promise of a safe passage and the probability that the river was shallow and gentle enough for Annie to wade through and use her height to help them to it seemed to press in on them.

Armin yelled and motioned at Annie to stop and pointed it out, wondering if she would chance the water rather than engage the dozen or so various sized monsters stumbling towards them at an alarming pace. She gazed at him for the span of milliseconds before following the trajectory of his shivering arm towards their only hope of escape. She nibbled on her lips as she would in human form if met with a dilemma she cannot handle or guess the end of, but both she and Armin were gamblers. She was willing to try it.

She nodded at him and held him him to her mouth, the lad holding on to her front teeth for the second time that day. As soon as he was latched on he felt her sprint towards the water and fall into the heart-stopping surge of wild water that splashed against her solid and muscular physique. He thought he felt his stomach fall away from him when he noted the sudden jerking sensations tearing at the pair, Annie groaning something incoherent and deep in her large throat. He wondered if the water was deeper than they expected.

_Oh god. Can't she swim in this...?_

His thoughts stopped then, her teeth coming together quickly with a loud _snap_. He removed his hand and yelped, but Annie's mouth was tilted forward enough to prevent him from slipping back into her esophagus. He felt his damaged frame rattle uncontrollably in fear for both himself and Annie's flight into the fast moving water, unsure of what was going on in the world beyond her tightly clenched jaws. He slithered forward and grasped her teeth in between the indent and gaps, hoping she wouldn't gnash them together and grind him up into a ruined pulp by sheer accident. He placed his legs under the tip of her tongue and shut his eye in prayer.

Her body proceeded to jump and shudder, scaring Armin nearly beyond his wit every single time without fail. He couldn't count the time he spent in her mouth but he knew it could not have been more than whole minutes at length, however each second felt like an impossible eternity crawling by at snail's pace. The reverberations of their bout with the elements and their fatigue hindered their progress, but the tangible idea of a moment of respite was all the lure they needed in order to go on.

This whole ordeal was making Armin even sicker than before. He hadn't realized that he had bitten his own tongue until he felt the coating of metal slide down his gullet and cover his taste buds. His adrenaline pulsed hotly under his flushed skin, his eye sealed shut until this last bid for safety is over. It dragged on, Annie thrashing about outside and he holding on rather precariously inside.

_So close._

He then dimly noted Annie's jaws parting and her fingers enveloping him, but his mind was fear-drugged and too far-gone in the moment to understand what it was that she was doing. All he knew then was the feeling of swift vertigo as he was lifted into the air and flicked into hard sediment, his olfactory sense overwhelmed by the pungent scent of river residue and Titan breath. He coughed into the damp soil, his empty stomach churning so badly he thought someone had stabbed him in the gut and twisted the weapon into him.

Outside, He heard squalling and hissing, reminding him of Annie's situation and prompting him to look over at the cave mouth. He crawled over and peered out, witnessing as Annie had stabbed her fingers into the cliff to hold on; her stout and yet lean body flattening itself against the ravine wall. She gritted her teeth and stared Armin in the face for a couple of seconds before she was seen breaking free of the Titan's nape in a flurry of steam and flying flesh. She visibly looked fearful but it seemed to compel her to place haste into her movements. She snapped the flesh connections to herself and began climbing up the Titan's hair in order to get to Armin, he in turn out-stretching his slimy hand. He had no way to dry it off but he knew he did not have the time to remedy that problem anyway.

Annie could get swept away if they weren't fast.

Through a storm of thundering water he called out, "Grab my hand!" and tried to reach down to her, her own eyes bright and alive with the cacophony of chaos. She hurried her ascension, the Titan's dead body decaying all too fast for their comfort and its withering remains hot to Annie's boots. A foul cloud of heated air escaped the corpse with a sigh, but it did nothing to deter the warrior in her endeavor to get to Armin. She coughed and and raced up the scalp until she was perched across the Titan's forehead and strained herself to reach him, but it seemed her already short height was playing against her. A rather powerful current gripped the dead body and pulled, the Titan's hands lodged into the rocks retained their hold but it wouldn't last a another minute.

"Annie!"

Armin pushed himself further out the aperture, his fingers extending down to her in a last bid to free her of this situation. If she had been as tall as Ymir or Hanji, she could have grabbed on by now. She huffed against the rock wall and unveiled her concern for her life, her reddened eyes wide and her breath coming out fast and laboring. She was too tired to even jump for it. The distance and time she spent in her Titan form as well as the climb had severely weakened her. Armin cursed but it was lost in the drone of rushing water, his desperation climbing and his heart banging against his sternum.

This was Eren Jaeger getting eaten right in front of him all over again.

A tumble of rocks and debris ended up freeing one of the body's hands and yanked the rest of it free. Annie can only let out a single gasp just as the eroding corpse fell away beneath her, but she was thankfully grabbed by her only ally in the world right then. Armin's slippery hand had snaked down and grasped her own and refused to let go, but still she was in danger of being carried off and drowned. She was sliding right through his grip.

Just as she was about to fall away, he hooked his trembling fingers into hers, her nails biting deeply into his digits. Despite this, he began to pull himself backward as she tried to find some sort of leverage for her feet, but the rock face was every bit as slick as Armin's hand. She lifted her other arm and parted her lips, her exhaustion plain to see. Armin shifted his legs around in an attempt to find something to hook his toes into but that failed miserably. However, he did notice the slim nature of the cave entrance, which was indeed close enough in terms of width to allow him to anchor himself there. The idea formulating into pristine clarity, he began the impossible act of maneuvering his crippled form towards certain death.

Annie noticed that she was being lowered closer to the water's violent surface and shouted, "What are you-?" but Armin didn't seem to hear her. Beyond giving her an answer at this point, he saved his energy for the next arduous part; moving forward and sucking in precious air between his blood-soaked teeth. His eyes slanted and blackness surrounding his vision, he inched ever closer to his goal and strained to sit up.

_Not now. Don't pass out now!_

In an awkward and hard-on-his-ribs position, one of his feet finally met the rim of the cave and his broken arm limply fingered its way to the other side. He held it there and pulled back, his waist bursting forth into a new attack on his conscience and his arm screaming of agony. Annie realized what he was doing and used her elevated arm to grab onto Armin's sleeve, heaving against the vices of gravity. Baring her teeth as well, she once again made an attempt at pulling herself upward while groping around for a ledge. Their shared efforts was met with success when she latched on to sharp rock ledge and followed through with Armin's plan. Both he and Annie tilted towards the interior and her leg clumsily made it in. The rest naturally followed through.

They were now finally safe.

Throwing themselves backward Armin finally let out a pent up scream and rolled over, his arms flying to his waist even with one of them broken. Squeezing his eye shut, he laid to one side of cavern and fought the tears clawing their way out, his body shuddering since all of his old wounds decided to reopen. It felt like someone flayed open his torso and tore into him, his extremities burning and his sight all but failing him.

Annie nearby after regaining her breath turned to him, her pleading eyes now replaced by a more focused and concerned pair. She slid over and snatched the near-ruined satchel clipped to his back harness. She fumbled for any bandages but their stock was brutally slimmed down by this point in their journey. Spitting out curses in a furious jumble she managed to locate the thin roll of gauze and went to her companion's aid, hoping to never repeat this incident again.

* * *

~000~

The silence that followed after the treatment made her wonder if Armin Arlert had finally decided to die.

Annie made sure to check his vitals before declaring him barely alive and withdrawing into herself, her fingers cold and her body already losing the warmth it had received while she was in Titan form. She'd been uncharacteristically worried about the lad for a while now, her lingering doubts regarding his survival soaring from one hypothetical way to die to the next. It was bad enough that she tried to wipe away the thickened residue of the Titan's saliva from Armin's feverish form while treating him; add to that his body choosing to shut down once but couldn't thanks to her interception. Altruism had never been her thing, but here she was, acting out in a way that may not be so different from Reiner.

_How hypocritical._

Tense and trying to unwind her muscles, the adrenaline-high having long since faded, she shuddered and let her dazed thoughts hover to places unknown. She never fully removed her eyes from the silent and unmoving Armin, a little apprehensive that if she did look away he would fade quietly into oblivion.

_Why do I care if he dies? He's not even beneficial to me when he's like this._

The cavern was brisk and chilly against her, but her hoody was dry and warm at least despite the grips of night-time cold nipping at them both. She pondered on how get her prisoner to warm and attempted to make a fire. That plan failed wonderfully due to the constant humidity and moisture clinging to the atmosphere like another freezing and wet body pressed against her own. They had nothing to burn anyway; all that they possessed on their person was the now grimy pouch of medical supplies and their dirty clothes.

They both were still miraculously wearing their 3-DM harnesses, but it had been largely forgotten until now. Annie felt silly for forgetting such a crucial piece of important soldier wear; Armin could have used his to hull Annie up had his arm been in better condition and if he hadn't already naturally thought of using terraincial leverage.

She gauged the extent of her own injury she received when climbing in; she had cut her hand and shin while the boy had been helping her in but she was already healing. All that remained was this terrible and gnawing hunger and wretched thirst that left her nearly desperate for anything consumable. Her exhaustion kept her on the ground in a huddled crouch though, far too dazed and weakened to get up and do anything about it. Combined these factors made her an angry and irate person, shortening her fuse and effectively driving a wedge into her thinking.

It was best then she decided to just sleep some of these inconveniences off. Its not like she can figure anything out if she was this dead tired and starved.

* * *

~000~

Dreams plagued the pair, though neither were anything good nor relaxing.

Nightmares had both of them stirring in the pre-dawn hours a long time after they have fallen asleep, their minds wracked with the images of people they knew and loved and lost. However, it was Annie who had awoken first as a result, the memory of her father leaving tear-tracks down her pallored, grimy cheeks.

The dull pain of hunger reminded her of where she was, the remnants of her visions already fluttering away from the knotting feel of her gut. She placed a hand on her cramping innards and groaned as another rolling pang struck her suddenly, keeping her in place. _Incredible _thirst and terrible aches wracked her skinny body as well, a true nausea over-whelming her mind with the unpleasant thought of throwing up out the cave exit. She knew her body was heavily over-taxed from the use of her Titan form right out the crystal shell, and this weakened her greatly.

_This will limit my use of the power in the future, unless I can get something to eat and drink._

Annie then swiped away the all too familiar tears remnant of her nightmares of her lost father, her watery azure eyes arresting onto the mouth of the moist cave. They needed to get out of here and eat somewhere relatively safe, but she suspected the Titans haven't completely given up on finding them. The recently abandoned buildings they've bypassed is sure to have something they can eat, but that meant crossing the tumultuous river and climbing the steep sides up to flat land again; right where they'd be most vulnerable.

_Great fucking idea Armin fucking Arlert. Making me swim over here away from the town with the actual fucking supplies in it._

Anger was always the first and foremost reflexive way Annie can react in such situations. Coming here was the only way to survive against a Titan horde, although it was a great pain in the royal backside since it meant a hazardous trek back yonder. In a battle of food against rationality, it was food that won this time and she felt her anger start to slide to new levels of hate for the boy and his usually 'quick-witted' escape plans. If he wasn't already dying she would have already given him a piece of what she thought of this stupid game of theirs.

Annie knew any transformations meant attracting attention and she couldn't manage a decent one anyway because of her lack of energy; but if they don't hurry on before sunrise they'll be easy prey. They had to be able to get what they need and disappear, fast. She would have to use her harness to climb up and hope to find a way across in calmer waters on that note. The plan involved leaving Armin alone for a prolonged period of time however, and that seemed unfavorable due to the nature of his extensive injuries. Its not like she had any other choice though; seeing how he couldn't be moved right now at all.

Sighing heavily, she began to fuss with her harness and removed the entire set of somewhat new leather crossing over her body. Annie then proceeded over to Armin who seemed to be resting in a daze on his back, his lips beaded with fresh blood. His fluttering eyelid and discolored cheeks informed the girl that he was indeed having trouble with staying asleep at all.

To say he looked very un-well was putting it mildly.

Her previous frustrations with him vanished upon seeing him this way, clumsily fighting the urge to feel sorry for the miserable lad. She needed his harness so she can try to climb out of here; the extra length was probably what was required in order to leave the cavern at all. With a tentative "Armin?" she stooped over his crumpled form and peered into his patchy face, her guilt beginning to bleed through unfettered. She posessed no clear idea on what she should be feeling right now regarding his current predicament, but stubbornly adhering to her former ire certainly wasn't going to cut it.

Her voice had indeed stirred him to sluggish wakefulness, his flickering eye only half-opening next. His bleary expression gave him the odd looks and bearings of a beached fish that had wriggled out its last little bit of energy in a desperate bid to survive. With a nearly imperceptible nudge in movement, he inclined his head to her in weary acknowledgement.

"Are you... sober enough to know what I'm saying?" She began in a flat but not unfeeling tone.

Armin blinked at her and nodded.

Annie lowered her head, placing one arm on her thigh as the other clenched around her harness in misplaced shame. She didn't know where these stupid feelings were coming form, but they had to stop. She then asked lowly, "How... are you holding up? Can you speak at all?"

His broken lip pinched together as if he was considering her question. Annie was starting to wonder if he didn't have the capability to hold a conversation anymore let alone understand her until he hoarsely replied, "...Can. No strength to speak long." His speech however broken up in several puffing attempts to breathe, so she concluded that it was better he didn't talk at all if she really needed him to live.

_I can't let you die yet Arlert._

"I need to go to the town across the river," she said in a quiet voice. "They have what we need; food, water canteens, and medical items to procure. Hopefully there are some working pieces of maneuvering gear to find too. However, I need an extra harness to get there first and that means I have to move you just a bit so I can use yours. Can you do that?"

_Does he look like he can?_

Armin worried at his lower lip and shrugged; a kind of silent _I'll try _response.

He waited to move on her command, his thin shoulders suddenly tense as if braced for a beating. For some reason, Annie loathed the idea of even touching his frail frame and didn't wish to lift his torso so she can reach for the hooking mechanisms. He seemed so sick and ailing that even touching him might bring him whole steps closer to death. She knew it was a painful task for the boy; asking him to sit up was pushing it too far.

Armin's reddened teeth gritted together and hissed as she removed the Scouts' jacket overlapping his shirt and straps on his upper body. She then helped him shrug out of his shoulder suspenders, but that was a major chore that had to be tackled with a ginger touch. While working at it she was trying to fight off her own advent guilt. Armin sometimes winced and it made her gut sink like someone tied a considerable amount of weight to it and dropped it into the deepest body of water.

Annie then berated herself for lending the soldier any sympathy for what he put her through, proceeding with the task with a slightly harder heart.

When she got to his thighs they were both able to breathe more easily for only a minute. It dawned on Annie that she now had to undo the belts around his legs and it involved invading some personal space. Her bottom lip curled, the sapphire blue of her eyes as unfeeling as ever as she fought embarrassment clawing its way forth. With a ginger artifice she carefully moved her thin hands to the pair of tightly-bound leather straps resting parallel mid-thigh on his left leg and undoing the belts there. After unclipping the carabiner in other places she worked the straps further down and wrinkled her nose at what she did next: She had to remove his foul-smelling boots that reeked faintly of his previous skirmish with the Beast Titan and more strongly of her Titan breath.

_This is disgusting_.

This was a process she repeated for the other leg too, Armin trying once more to be cooperative but only succeeding in making his side throb again. At his hiss she gave him a warning look which left the boy still immediately and without a grunt of complaint. Annie had finally managed to remove the gear largely except for what criss-crossed his waist.

She removed the waist cloth and realized the amount of dirt that was caking it; she mentally added a spare change of clothes to her list of rations to retrieve and tossed the grubby and torn fabric aside. Annie was a master at wearing the ultimate poker-face, but this was pushing her control on her emotions a little too far. Under better circumstances prior to her battle in Stohess she would have done this with no problem; but when she had emerged from her crystal that seemed to have changed. Her feelings and mindset were bleeding out more often and it was driving her nail-bitingly crazy.

_Human emotions are so fucking useless at the best of times. _

Armin undid the belt at the front easily enough, but getting out of it completely will be a hassle that he'd have to grit his teeth and bear. Annie (who tried ignore the wet moan that escaped him when another migraine hit him) started to loosen the metal sheet on his injured side. A calloused hand feebly went to the hip-hugging plate and met her own; the touch ending up with it covering her hand as if to stop. He tried to keep the honest burn of shame from his cerulean stare as he wiggled his digits past her own and undid the fastening mechanism with clumsier fingers. Annie had to withdraw her own limb with haste and tried not to think of it.

When she looked back up at him she had to keep the ever so _slight_ giggle out of her throat: Armin's round face had even more color in then that one time he had been caught staring at a girl's breasts back in training; a time where she couldn't figure out if that had been an accident or not. If it hadn't been for the situation they were in, the abashed expression he was wearing would have been considered hilarious. He was blushing so madly over even lightly _touching_ her delicate fingers that she wondered if he ever a hug from a female other than Mikasa. Probably not she quickly figured.

_He's more modest than most of the girls I've ever bunked with. _

Armin managed to undo the matching plate on the other side on his own, but the twisting of his lower trunk had him turning red again for a different reason. Annie had to finish what the boy started then, removing his sweaty and shaking hand from his bloody abdomen and working the belts around the problem area up and over his head. The entire gear being finally all off left Armin to lean against the clammy wall and sigh with relief. The constricting harnesses had left new bruises under his ragged clothes all over his body.

Annie began to fuss with the hooks and clips and various buckles, trying to be inventive with it and its overall functionality so she can climb the ridge outside. The task took several minutes to complete but she was satisfied with the end result. She tested it out by pulling at all the links and nodding before walking over to the entrance and glancing around the brim. Eyeing any possible footholds and gauging the distance she had to cross, she was able to project a path with a little imagination and some serious scrutiny aimed towards some outcroppings that appeared to jut from the rock face. It was awfully convenient and Annie briefly wondered if this cave has been used before by any of the townspeople that lived nearby.

_A great hiding spot for certain illegal activity._

She turned to Armin, her mouth set in a firm line that was rather contradictory to how she actually felt about doing what she planned to. She then lowly stated, "I'm leaving now, but I should be back before too long."

Armin blinked at her and worked his jaw as if in question of how she was going to pull this off. He pursed his lip and frowned at her in a concerning way, but Annie ignored it.

She merely regarded him with her aura of cool calculation (which was feigned for once) and said, "I better not return to find you dead Arlert. That will hurt not only me but some of your pathetic friends from the scouts."

_What am I saying? I only mean that in a way his death would be purely an inconvenience, not anything more. Besides, its not like he'll see them again._

_Why am I debating this? Focus._

Annie leaned out of the aperture and stared overhead, spinning one of the harnesses like a lasso and tossing it upward. Luckily for her on the first attempt it hooked and gave no sign of slipping. Glad for their slight change in luck, she turned to glance at Armin just once more. His eye beheld concern and protest but he had nary the energy to say much in his situation. His wise mind had already surmised that this was a required evil they must undertake if the pair ever hoped to survive the destruction of mankind.

She had to admit, for a prisoner his concern was endearing in a way but it was unwarranted. She merely placed his sentiment to the back of her mind and began the dangerous climb up toward the hell that awaited on the flat lands above.

* * *

~000~

Armin knew her well enough by now to guess how she thinks most of the time, but not always was this the case.

He knew she was out of her own volition, trying to make this whole stupid journey to Maria's outermost wall. It involved running some couple hundred miles away however, through lands both high and low teeming with possibly thousands of gluttonous mouths to bypass. The hazards did not stop there; there was the odds of dying because of the most basic elements of nature to consider like hunger, thirst and weather playing against them. There was also the added problem of scaling the next wall to take into the equation, and the probability of meeting something even more unpleasant than abnormal Titans.

What could make this whole ordeal worse was the off-chance that the walls could collapse entirely and release the horrors inside; but that seemed a little preposterous to happen. It still made going to Annie's mysterious home seem so out of the way and frivolous though; so much so that going there for any other reason would be folly.

_Then again, maybe it isn't her home she's running too, but somewhere else entirely and for another reason... But why?_

_And where...?_

Armin heaved another sigh; he thought he had her just about correctly pegged the previous day as they had been leaving Sina's boundaries. He figured she would have to go to either meet the Ape Titan or make one more attempt at heading to her birthplace; or possibly chance going into the interior to find Eren but his inquiring to her was met with no positive response or conclusion. She had once again become the enigmatic girl he met long ago, but not quite the same warrior or person she had once been. Annie Leonhardt was always so painfully intelligent that it made Armin shudder at the thought. He sometimes forgot how he wasn't the only one who thought with his head and not with willpower or heart like everyone else he came across.

She was fighting for something else now, something far too close to her normally barricaded heart.

_But what is it really and why bring me along? Is it really for this wager of ours? I get the feeling its more than that._

He can safely ascertain that she was using him to an extent. Maybe this was why she was bringing him along other than prove a point to him regarding their bet. She was using him for her own selfish needs and that seemed to be reasonably sound, but Annie was a complicated person by nature. It just so happened that she was also very emotional when push came to shove and she had a talent for covering it up. Remembering the gaze she gave him when her decaying Titan form was falling away from beneath her feet, it had proven that much was true.

_But what was the point in knowing that again? Did it have something to do with her being a good person...?_

Armin realized that he was thinking too much and he was meeting no answers to the questions he asked. He wished that he could shake off the pulsing that made his noggin swim like it was dipped in molasses, but he did not have the appropriate medical supplies to do anything about it. When he was hungry enough to eat like Sasha after a hard day's work thinking was out of the question and that either started his headaches or made them worse. The ennui of his condition was making him lose his train of thought and it worked at his nerves like Eren's constant complaining whenever Jean does something that annoys him.

Armin instead tried to distract himself by taking his dirty Scouts uniform jacket lying almost forlorn next to him and tossing it over his shoulder. Slowly, he worked it around his back while trying not to aggravate his wound on his side but that was impossible to avoid. He flinched and grunted a couple of times but he was able to get one of the sleeves around to his front again while trying to tie them together in a make-shift sling. With his left arm now suspended and held abreast, he sat against the wall and closed his remaining eye while trying to leash his rampant thoughts.

That's when he groaned.

_Dammit. I can't hardly move but now I really have to get up._

_When was the last time I had the chance to piss?_


	4. The Toils of Survival

_I read manga chapter 59 lately. Let's say this takes place sometime around then but since its a divergent story the overall flow has changed._

_**Arc 1: The Wager's Fool**_

_**Episode 4: The Toils of Survival**_

* * *

~000~

Annie had damn near killed herself once already during the climb in the predawn morning.

It nearly happened again not long after she set out and started to walk alongside the river in order to find a bridge across. It was bad enough that she couldn't transform without there being some repercussions that involved her being immobilized afterward. Being an energy savvy shifter still had its limits since she had no nourishment in the last few days. On top of that, Annie was never a morning person anyway; her mind was constantly drugged with a lingering drowsiness and her body shivered in the early cold. One could say she was most vulnerable at this time of day.

On another hand, an out of the blue attack was sure to wake her up.

7-meter Titans may not be the smallest, but they can be fast on their feet and hide almost as well as their 3 or 5-meter counterparts. It managed to conceal itself relatively well until Annie chose at that time to pass by and look the other way. She had no means of combating the beast except to manage a partial transformation, but that would ultimately leave her too dehydrated to attempt another one if there was an greater threat. Out-running it was clearly suicide but tricking it wasn't entirely out of the question. It was all she can do until she can procure the supplies.

_Fucking Titans. Its a no-brainer why Jaeger wants to kill every single last one of them. Dunno what I despise more: Reiner's jokes, Armin's smartass ways, that emotionless bitch Mikasa or those stupid Titans._

_...Probably all of them on that note._

Annie managed to keep a decent lead but the scowling pursuer was practically _leaping _over the miniscule distance separating them. She had to glance back once to guage the Titan's speed, but her blood ran cold at both his quicker pace and closer proximity. She caught the glint of his ivory teeth with horrid clarity; smaller than the Titan norm but with twice as many in his unhinged mouth. The mandibles on the creature contained the elasticity of rubber, yawning open like a snake about to swallow an over-sized prize. It would've looked almost comical from afar, but for understandable reasons Annie found nothing about this funny. He was gaining and only a few horse-lengths behind, lashing out his ridiculous jaws with each step.

_FUCK THIS._

Relocating her eyes onto her path, she noted the bank of trees bordering the river and the drop-off next to them. An idea swam into mind just then, the girl now twirling her harness in a one-chance bid towards the thickest of branches. A split second later she was up and over and gone before the blundering Titan even knew where she was leading it to.

Climbing into the air, a stomach-flipping _snap_ sounded where her torso had just been, an earth shaking _crunch_ following. It announced the Titan's descent onto the ground and then he was sliding the rest of way towards his death over the ledge. The dim-witted brute was devoured by the whipping rapids below with a merciless abandon that Annie was now somewhat thankful for. Thank god for clever wits for humans and stupid brains for their enemies she mentally added

Hanging loosely some yards off the ground, she let out a collective sigh and recollected her common sense before trying to lower herself. She was doing well until another less threatening _crack _resounded, suddenly on her feet far more quickly than anticipated. Annie buckled over and groaned as the limb toppled down and smashed to splinters on and around her. Blinking away stars she mumbled an expletive, taking in what's around her. She frowned when she saw it; realizing grimly that she escaped only because she snagged the one dead branch that was doomed to break if it had to support any large weight greater than its own.

It was a wonder it held her at all.

Shaking off her chilling unease, she was successful in finding the bridge and the town it lead too several meters from where the Titan fell; but it seemed her luck had grown short after her run-in with the 7-meter: The bridge was broken beyond repair, but it held no obvious signs of rot or weathering. If anything, the passage had been well maintained until the evacuation. Annie presumed a Titan must have fell on it or tried to step across it, but the wood can never hope to hold anything larger than a 5 meter or more.

_Just my luck._

She weighed her options and shook her head. If she was really desperate and wished to hurry along, she would have to jump it and pray the harness did what it did with her earlier encounter; but that option seemed liable to fail. The tool was frayed and worn from her improper use of it; climbing outcroppings and latching onto trees only adding to its wear. It was never meant for this kind of abuse, Armin having almost worn his own set down to nothing alone. She could switch the belts seeing how hers was in better shape, but that would take too long to do and the sun was now speeding up its ascent. Daylight was being burned up every second and the longer Armin was left alone, the greater the odds of his withering and dying while she was absent.

Annie frowned at the dilemma, but she knew better than to try to tempt fate again after her recent brush with death in the past few days. There was no way in hell that she could come up lucky again after all this; such a thing never lasted in this stinking reality. She peeled herself from the site and scoped the area, trying to reel in ideas and hoping to find something she can use to help her across. She added as a brighter after-thought that this could possibly be a one-time obstacle; given that there is maneuvering gear hidden in one of the houses.

Or perhaps stuck to a corpse, probably.

Whatever the case, the gear would be indispensable in their journey south, and even possessing a single functioning set of one or even _two_ would be a fantastic asset. Using harnesses and knives can never suffice in a land teeming with over-sized threats and possibilities. Gathering food and water flasks seemed so worthless in terms of value in comparison.

Annie had to stop her thoughts there; she noted the road that led formally away from the village had ominous and old stains in the dirt. Bending over, she traced her fingertips over the path gingerly, ghosting over the trodden area with careful reflection. She quickly surmised that the rust color plastered to the soil was old blood; likely originated from an injured townie trying to escape the hell that the land has become. If anything, the conclusion was more than probable and it led her to the idea that the person may have died not long after.

Huffing, Annie rose to her feet and followed the ruts of the wagons and the prints of the denizenry in an attempt to find anything that could guide her towards a useful alternative to her situation. This time however, she was more than cautious of the surrounding verdure and brush and the fact that the trees may conceal yet another unwanted pair of frothing jaws and teeth. Its not like she had any means to defend herself but she needed the split-second head-start if she was in trouble.

She stayed within sight of the forlorn settlement, but it was a fairly long walk away from the bridge before she decided she should give up. She found no bodies or horse-drawn vehicles with precious and useful items _anywhere_ close by. Annie let her normally well-composed poker face disappear into a sigh of resignation and frustration as she retraced her steps back towards the bridge. She was going to have to be smart and use the woods around the area if she ever hoped to get across. Maybe a toppled tree could be rolled into the area can help close the gap.

_Come to think of it, I could use the fallen trees the Titan fell on. Getting them to the bridge and fastening it though..._

It was the only idea she had to go with. Annie moved along towards the area where she dropped the drooling menace and let her mind wonder, her thoughts hovering over to what a certain soldier may be doing to bide his time before she returned.

* * *

~000~

Armin was beyond bored.

He knew being abandoned in the battlefield was a necessary evil these days, but he never weighed in this kind of outrageous scenario: He anticipated that one day, in this Titan-infested world ever since he joined the scouts, that he could possibly end up stranded somewhere beyond the protection of the walls; but this was just downright unbearable. To be held captive by a Titan-shifting master and not have any provisions or means of communication was just adding to his impatience. Ever since Eren's first transformations, he should've weighed in the possibility of being captured by an intelligent menace like the colossal or armored shifters, but he hadn't thought nothing of it.

But he should have dammit all.

_Nothing is impossible, so not considering this probability was folly my part._

Internal rants aside, Armin had tried in Annie's absence to sleep off the lull but his wounds woke him each time he laid on a tender or sore spot. He rolled onto his arm once, and now he was in wretched agony because of it even hours afterward. He gave up on rest after that, trying to entertain himself with puzzle games he came up with by scribbling into the dirt instead. Still, it just wasn't as fun without his fellow trainees leaning over past his shoulders trying to guess what he had concocted. Armin then gave up the games in favor of picking at his grimy nails in a miserable attempt to clean himself up, thinking of his only friends in the world making his heart ache like the rest of him.

Staring absently at his short and cracked nails, he tried to shake off the somber sensations that dragged at the little bit of clarity in his mind. His twisting guts knotted up with hunger and the saddening realization that he was alone in this unforgiving place. Annie was no friend of his; she was using him for her own benefit. His comrades were far enough away to be beyond all hope of returning to alive and are god-forbid dead and gone. He felt his slight strength with each passing day flicker in and out of existence as if threatening to finish him. Despite this, a weaker, smaller part of him hoped the unfeeling void would just hurry up and consume him in all its spectral entirety.

It was a morbid thought.

The continuous drone of the churning rapids outside palpably shook the rock-face and filled his bones with its tremulous reverberations. It was in a mind-numbing way an earthly reminder that he was still alive at least, anchoring his fleeting consciousness to its quaking rumble so to keep him alert but relaxed. Doing so succeeded in keeping his tension to a minimal so far; perhaps it can continue to do so until Annie returns.

_Annie._

The girl was a green one he had to admit; she wasn't a true liar at heart but she was never really honest. Annie was still dangerous and hard to understand at times; but in an intrusive way that Armin had to berate himself for adding, she was _kinda _beautiful to look at. Not exotic or abnormally unique like Mikasa, but pretty no less. He could be held captive an ugly and sadistic fucker for all he knew, but for luck's sake he ended up with a kidnapper that cared enough to keep him from suffering too much while still being easy on the eyes whenever she wasn't glaring him down. The girl put herself on the line for them, her kindness showing through at the best of times, but how far was she willing to go? Annie was as emotional as she is apathetic, making her complicated to predict.

Marco's death clearly bothered her, so perhaps she _did_ care more than originally figured.

Armin thought for sure she would go after Eren while the inner walls were in such a state of disquiet, but Annie had in fact done something else almost _entirely _unexpected: Proceeding to flee the scene while bringing a weakling like him along for the ride wasn't really considered. If she had something to gain out of this, he had to admit that he hadn't the slightest idea what. She was someone who was a walking mass of opposites and it was that trait that drew the attention to herself she never wanted.

He shook his head; he was thinking too much again and it was bringing another migraine with it. Armin had begun to fidget too but stopped himself just as he had started; his grandfather having told him that it was a bad habit. Still, he just _had _to do something with himself in this state of lazy enervation, otherwise he would drive himself absolutely crazy from sheer boredom.

Slowly, he rose grudgingly to his shaking feet and walked around the tiny cavern, relieving himself out its aperture. After which, he proceeded to pace around as his mind went once again into that same buzzing trance that normally took over whenever he had too much time to himself. His eye took on a hazy and unseeing shimmer, his working arm rising steadily to his chin in consternation.

A part of Armin has hardened into an numb acceptance of his war-torn reality, but his youth continued to yank the strings tied to his suffocating heart. His sentiment placed itself into a mixed and confusing form of concern for the female warrior slash Titan shifter. His worry though was not needed however; Annie was almost every bit as intelligent as himself and he had to tell himself this many times in the past few days he'd been out here. His pacing picked up as he tried to anticipate future events in the long run, but the rhyme and reason of Annie's actions eluded him. His fasting has done nothing good for his thinking however; his nerves now raw and rattled and his temperament shorter and more violent than expected.

He closed his eye and felt himself stagger, nearly fainting again. His clammy hand went to his dribbling forehead and swiped away the sweat build-up there, his legs feeling like they vanished from beneath him. His breath was short and stale and his heart's usual rythem fluttered: All these symptoms simply announcing that he needed to sit down again and relax.

Flattening himself against the cool cave wall, he felt the sweat on his back start to disappear, his mind struggling to grasp sobriety. His pain had persisted ever since his duel with the Beast Titan and it has done nothing but hinder him. His docile nature had cracked enough to let his anger at his impending helplessness at the whole ordeal shine through wonderously. His teeth gnashed as another throb radiated from his waist next.

_Gods be damned. I hate being a burden even to people like Annie. I wish she left me for dead. Why was I born to be so stupidly weak and fragile?_

On the bright side, his delicate frame had constituted for the regular check-ups from the infamous Dr. Jaeger, which in turn led him to meet his life-time friend Eren and eventually Mikasa. That was where all the perks had ended though; his body was "as dainty as a dandelion and as easily crushed as a shell-less insect"; something his past drill instructor Shadis had roared at him while he was a trainee. It was silly to chastise himself for something he couldn't help, but he did anyway. Being raised in Shiganshina made him strong enough to survive the next harrowing years as a homeless refugee and eventually a trainee in Rose's confines at least, but this new strength wasn't enough.

Armin felt his breath catch in his throat at the mention of his former home. His eye popped open at the the idea dawning on him.

_...Shiganshina. Wait a tic; that couldn't be-?_

The inner ramblings had brought the boy to the very conclusion he hoped to reach: The thought had escaped him for the time spent after Annie's freedom, sweeping him up into her arms onto this ridiculous adventure; but here it was, as glaring to him as a 15-meter standing before him in the noon sun.

_We're following the river not just because it's an intelligent means of survival; it's really because it is the most sure-fire way of getting to Shiganshina. We're probably going there to see what's in Eren's basement!_

Technically, a shifter did not need a huge bronze key like Eren's if they needed entry inside; all they really required was the use of their sheer strength to wrench the door open if they were seriously careful. Annie easily had the most nimble and articulate digits between her and her fellow shifters, so getting a huge door like that open should not be any harder than one would think. Years of weathering in an abandoned town like that could mean the door was possibly weak enough to barge into.

_Maybe this is why she needs me-? To help her find Eren's house..._

It made gruesome sense; it was most likely one of the _only _reasons she had struggled to keep him alive so far.

Armin had to admit; Annie was thinking leaps and bounds ahead this time around. It was intimidating in a sense. Truth be told, he somewhat looked forward to the idea of getting to see what Mr. Jaeger felt was so precious to conceal for either deluded or righteous reasons, even if humanity desperately needed said information. To actually get there and obtain something so powerful and delicate gave the boy a misplaced thrill that reinvigorated him for only a second before his condition left him mollified.

_Its pretty dumb in a way, but the idea of being the first there... I wonder if Dr. Jaeger would mind if I saw it?_

_...I don't think he'd care much if it was me. At this point __**somebody **__needs to get to it before our enemies do. At least depending on the information inside someone like me can smartly use it to save us all from the horrifying outcome of this fight. _

_Its either that or the other gruesome alternative..._

Armin felt his brow knit as his thoughts fell onto his nearly-forgotten interloper of a companion. His earlier excitement melted away as he worried at his lower lip.

_Depending on what's inside... Is it possible that an experienced master like Annie could use that kind of information to her advantage? Or am I assuming too much?_

He gulped, his throat suddenly tight as his heart fell somewhere lost into his guts. The method to the madness of Annie's past actions were making the boy shiver involuntarily. He never wanted to play accomplice to what unmentionable horrors were waiting to take place.

_This will become a spectacular disaster if she uses that in a way that it is purely selfishness on her part. I don't think she'd do it personally, but one never knows the outcome of circumstantial conjecture. Maybe she might hand that information to whoever's doing this. Our fight with the Titans will be viewed, if we are not extinct in the years to come, as a divine tragedy no matter how you look at it._

Its too bad the gods have already laughed it up.

* * *

~000~

Annie felt childishly pleased with herself.

Thanks to what her rigorous training had imparted to her regarding the necessities of survival, she was finally able to move on. She looked over her handiwork from the bridge's entry, trying to detect any faults with her make-shift repair. As far as she can see, it seemed to be sound and the new bridge was indeed usable. It had taken a broken tree the Titan had snapped at its base when it had tripped earlier to do the job, but hell it worked. Rolling it and pushing it into position was the hardest and most time-consuming part but that was now literally-speaking water under the bridge.

Annie had walked on and off of it a few times already, using the branches to latch onto the splintered segments of the wood as false hooks. Nodding in confirmation of the safety measures of her work, she began the treacherous walk across the chasm of ripping wild water. The tree threatened to roll but the sap-sticky and scented branches at least proved to be a means of saving her life if such a thing happened. Her footing was sure and as precise as a cat's, her sense of balance guiding her the rest of the way across without so much as even another creak.

Upon touching ground on the other side, she felt her pent-up breath escape her. Now she can move on to the next phase of their trip without wasting much more time. She was still watching for any other recent signs of Titan activity but there wasn't any that she could see. All the smaller buildings and stone roads had impressive craters in them, but it must have occurred when the attack happened; or maybe some passing Titan decided to look around. In a sense, nothing was truly amiss.

Annie guardedly traipsed across the trodden-on path into the town, her eyes wider than saucers as she weighed in the damage and sights. There was disgustingly enough some eaten corpses and pieces of them lying haphazardly across the vicinity, but they were undoubtedly a couple of days or so old; the stench told her that. Annie spotted some passing crows and feral pets running in and out of sight making a meal of the mess. It was a scene she had witnessed in Trost's aftermath not long before, and Shiganshina even before that when she first infiltrated.

She watched as a medium-sized dog picked at a certain body with a wolf-like hunger that made her own gut squirm like it was crawling with parasites. The mutt had eyed her for only a flickering second before it vanished. The atmosphere here was tainted with a sickness that could double over anyone except for veteran soldiers and shifters like herself. The scent of decay was a thick veil that had engulfed the town, a smog-like barrier to ward off the mortal and unwary.

_Armin was right about mankind's fall; and to think this happened so far into walls as Rose's inner sanctum. I know I shouldn't care but..._

_I do._

Her battle with Eren in Stohess should have hardened her, but she had in fact become the opposite deep within her core. She could never really tell herself that she was an emotionless war automaton, but her job required a professional killer with no sense of humanity that she'd never amount to be. She couldn't beat a novice like Eren because of her fear, and she couldn't achieve her goal due to her irresolute nature. On top of that, she failed to kill Armin Arlert out of respect or some other human nonsense: She just wasn't the warrior she tried to amount to being. Having to look at this destruction was making her feel more than distressed, even though it was expected to happen.

Annie tried to quell the ever mounting self-loathing but it was futile. Although she had almost next-to-nothing to do with recent events save for a couple of occasions long past, she still felt like she was utterly at fault. Thinking too much of the mission she abandoned was making her ill, but she couldn't help the remorse she had tried to alienate many times before. She was human too, wasn't she? She was allowed to feel remorse for these poor souls that have been trodden on and devoured in the recent years.

As Annie began her long and tedious search of the houses, she tried as the daylight burned overhead to ignore the empathetic sensations that clung to her heart. The job at hand was steadily removing the guilt but she knew she would have to grit her teeth and bear it the rest of the way. When she managed to locate the water canisters the sorrow began to throb away like a progressively aging wound. She'd been trained for a task that involved no human hospitality but she had failed that the instant she affiliated herself with people like Mina and Eren, whenever he attempted to practice with her. A weakness of this caliber allowed for her to be caught by Armin in the end.

Acting like a normal human was never really her forte to begin with it seemed.

_...Its __**way **__too late for this. I need to concentrate on getting to Shiganshina._

She continued to strain her ears to pick up on the earth-rumbling noise a Titan's steps normally creates, flickering her eyes onto both the enemies' movements and her own ongoing search. She found the brain-dead brutes but they were ghosting the furthest outskirts on the opposite side of the town. They were very much the same recognizable figures responsible for chasing her just the other day. However, the Titans that stood above 10-meters or more were the only ones she could see; so she was not so sure of the current location of any of the other smaller creatures. The Titans that were anything smaller than 7-meters could be haunting the immediate area just yards from her for all she knew.

Annie was in luck when she moved into the next house: she was nearly smiling when she found a full set of arrows, a bow, and a quiver with the bundle. The home may have belonged to a hunter who was negligent enough to leave such a viable weapon behind. It was either that or he favored a stronger tool since there was a few spaces where hunting equipment should have been placed.

_Not that I'm complaining. Some weapon is better than nothing._

After taking that, she located a traveling burlap sack in the kitchen with food stuffs carelessly (or hastily she was pretty sure) tossed inside; confirming the haste of the former residents. It was likely the hunter had attempted to take the sack with him but gave up on it in a last bid to escape. She attached the water flasks to her hips and rummaged through the kitchen for anything else portable. She was almost humming because of her find.

Smelling the items and deteriorating food in the kitchen made her stomach holler at her to eat anything within sight, but she ignored the it largely. She only allowed herself to an a apple in a fruit bowl close by in order to combat the mind-numbing pangs of her gut, just so she could focus a bit more. She glided over to the sink with the apple in her mouth, inspecting the plebeian water pump that was used as a faucet. Placing the flasks on the counter, she ran her fingers along the wooden length before putting them at rest on the handle, trying to make the lever budge. Unfortunately, it exhibited no profound movement the first attempt. She had to work the pump for a small span of minutes before something finally dribbled from the spicket.

Glad for some more progress, she managed to get a trickling stream going and refreshed herself in the sink before going on to consume what she could have swore was quarts of precious liquid. The water gave her the hydration she desperately needed after her awakening days ago. She was surprised she'd even managed to last this long without it; it was a necessity for Titan shifters since their bodies spend so much energy and water in their bodies just by _holding _the transformation, let alone transforming. Trying to go without it would be too costly for her and Armin now.

After finding the last of their new provisions (including a spare change of clothes for Armin), she threw the sack over her shoulder and went to leave, being careful to search the vicinity for the Titans. She continued to observe the larger beasts in the background while searching dedicatedly for the smaller variant. None were found immediately, so she slipped right out and headed towards the path leading back to the bridge. Walking with a bulky bag and kitchen utensils as weapons was not an intelligent way to handle their situation, but Annie knew they didn't have a choice in the matter.

She still hasn't located any 3-DM gear: This fact irked her but this terraced town seemed to be of rural habitation that didn't need to employ the use of soldiers and protection, considering where it was in Humanity's territory. It was far enough away be believed to be safe from a Titan invasion, and the buildings were far too small to effectively use the gear in anyhow. Its isolated placement affirmed that it might have been a hunting/gathering community like Sasha's home town; the arrows were proof enough. Annie would have to make due with items she found here and bring them to Armin so they can properly recuperate.

All she could do now is hope that her trek back would be easy.

* * *

~000~

The sun was sinking by the time Annie finally managed to make it back.

When she returned during that late evening hour, she could have swore that the crumpled piled of clothes in the nearby corner was nothing but a long-dead corpse. She felt silly for her concern at first, but that feeling was kicked in favor of sudden panic driving her nerves into overdrive. She dropped her baggage and threw herself into that corner, stooping over to see what she dreaded was true. She was fully able to take that surprise attack she got from the pair of 5-meters on her way back, but not the shock of what was going on in her head.

Armin was facing away from the entrance, laying on his good arm with his mouth part-way open. The bandage looped around his head was askew and his skin was chilled to the touch, not to mention pale. His brow was an odd mixture of pained frowning and total relaxation. What left Annie to assume the worst was the fact that his chest wasn't even _moving. _If he was really dead, then she lost her only way back into her home-town without there being trouble.

Mina's death had been hard enough.

She started with hesitation, her voice low. "...Armin?"

Resting her hand on his thin shoulder, she watched for any animation to take place on his facade, but none was witnessed. Upon seeing no response, she found herself shaking him slightly next, her nerves spiking.

"Armin! Get up!"

Her voice started to increase in volume, her already frayed nerves turning icy. Annie's grip tightened on the lad's sore shoulder, her fear bleeding into her voice. As soon as she ground out the next call for him to wake, he did more so than stir:

He jolted awake so fast that Annie didn't have any time to move away from his oncoming cranium. The resonating _clonk _jumped across the cave audibly; creating a fresh welt onto the girl's forehead. Annie then fell backwards onto her rump and yelped in perfect unison with the boy, trying to blink away the flashes dancing in front of her eyes. Suddenly, another similar noise rose up from somewhere beyond her vision, another groan suddenly made audible. Annie looked up past her fringe to take in Armin's dazed expression, his good eye unseeing and his hand raised to his skull was lost amidst the growing carmine splotching his dirty blond hair. He looked absolutely senseless to say the least.

_Did he hit his head __**again **__after he slammed into me? ...At least he's alive, but he's bleeding again. _

The two were rubbing their heads for a full minute before Annie recovered first. She went to move from her sitting position and walked over to where she had last deposited their provisions. She took out the medical supply kit she has been fortunate enough to find and went over to patch up the disoriented boy. It worried her to see that he didn't react to her touch when she removed the patch covering his ruined eye and head. However, to say that she felt dizzily glad to see him awake (to an extent) and breathing was an understatement. Her mind sent curses at him for feigning death so realistically before letting a calmer set of thoughts thread their way into being.

Funnily enough, she found herself asking unimportant questions after the mild scare, but she still couldn't shake the worry from her nerves from Armin's lack of response. His glazed, good eye seemed to have belonged to a dead man for all the visual good it was doing for him. Annie still worked to aid in his recovery despite his low chance of survival, fighting her memories of their training when Armin was sent to the infirmary for many various reasons; all involving his physical limitations.

She hoped he would make it to Shiganshina.

* * *

~000~

A pair of strong hands glided effortlessly in and around his blurry sight, his head gently rocked forward and back each crawling minute and motion.

Wrapping a white tendril endlessly around his scalp, he thought he recognized this bleary moment from a past he had long put behind him, where some relationships were still unsullied by blood and betrayal. It was something that could never be forgotten, due to the gritty nature of a life and death situation always vividly imprinting itself into one's memory without fail.

Except for the grim darkness clouding his eyes, Armin honestly believed he was sitting in front of a worried Reiner, whose hands where known to be strong enough to break a bull's neck without effort. Strangely the touch was delicate and sure, his corded arms working around the injury with a care only a friend could have. For some silly and unreasonable minute, Armin didn't care if he was the Armored Titan; all he knew was that the man sitting behind him was someone kind enough to put forward his concern for the welfare of others. He was someone who was the most trusted and loyal; the big brother many never knew the experience of having. Reiner Braun was a soldier with an ulterior motive, but his feelings of camaraderie were genuine and true.

In a bizarre twist of fate, he was friend and enemy to all. To think that the man was just barely any older than he and Eren if only by a couple of years. It would mean that he was a child himself when he leveled Maria's lands in the wake of the Titan invasion. Why would mankind's enemy be so frustratingly gentle?

He helped Eren pass and encouraged Armin to train harder for the trials ahead. When Trost happened, he may have been responsible for it alongside Bertholdt, but he really meant to keep his friends alive. He tried to enlighten the cruel animosity of the world with a crude humor that stemmed from his strength. He applied care to the injury of his allies, and even if his smiles may not be as contagious as Connie's, they still possessed a more inspiring air.

Armin felt ridiculously safe; Reiner had no true reason to kill him anyway, right?

The indistinct hands began to tighten a knot and overlapped it with around the patchwork, indicating an end to the application. Next, they went to his waist as if to inspect something else that needed attention. The old bandages were lightly cut away and some disinfecting aid was applied.

The pain that resurfaced was enough to make Armin heave.

It shocked him to near external awareness but his mushy mind was slipping more like a wasted drunkard's reality. Shapes were only known by brightness and color rather than detailed and recognizable contours. The only thing that was clear was the needle-sharp agony that stung his side and the hands working to cover the red tinting the corner of his pathetic sight. A new wrapping process made itself known before long and it was a welcome relief to the pain that continued to tear into his tired nerves.

_"Tomorrow will be fine," _He imagined a deep but reassuring voice from years past say. It carried confidence and encouragement within it and it seemed to blanket any and all obstacle. It coaxed some of the pain out of him as well, as if promising that Reiner would continue to keep him safe no matter what the adversity.

_To...tomorrow...?_

Armin opened his eye and stared into a dark but hard floor, his vision trying hard to right itself. Words bubbled from an place that he couldn't identify, their meaning holding no value initially. As the hands worked themselves over and around his head and trunk, his eye began to make sense of what was going on around him: He lifted his head a little and blinked, watching the gauze and what it was trying to cover for only a few seconds before losing interest.

He squinted a bit; he noticed the arms were thinner than originally perceived. Was it not his teammate that was tending to his wounds? Who did these hands belong too?

_A girl?_

The fluttering thud of his heart became audible, its meager struggle to support him suddenly beginning to make itself known. Every other sound that hadn't been in his head before beheld no distinction or familiarity, but now that muggy sensation was starting to clear up. He could now identify the rumble of the river outside, recognizing the gloomy cavern he currently sat in. Armin took in a breath and craned his skull back, the ceiling more visual but the lines and cracks still invisible to him. Reality became more and more stable as his world stopped spinning and trembling.

Armin was now capable of realizing that he was alive and conscience, but he momentarily forgot about the one who was dressing his wounds. His every other remembrance of holding a friendship with one of humanity's enemies started to sour and dry as sobriety returned, the lad damning himself for nearly letting death have its way him while he had nodded off. He leaned back, expecting to prop himself onto his hands but forgetting that he had a broken arm to deal with; the limb could never hope to support him. What else he neglected to keep in mind until it was too late was that there was a person sitting right behind him: A really small, _feminine _ and _dreadfully_ familiar person.

It was _definitely _a girl.

* * *

~000~

Well... Fuck.

Of all things that could wake him up back to the horrors of this life, it just had to be _Annie _of all people. If it wasn't for the unbelievable amount of pain swimming up his arm right now he would've blamed his blushing on his awkward stupidity. He felt like he within inches of death less than a few minutes ago, but now he was _fully _cognizant of what was going on now.

He was lying on Annie Leonhardt's lap.

For the moment, her deadpan expression was still glued furiously to her face, but Armin wondered how long it will take before that was wiped clean in favor of a more suitable and unwanted reaction. He could tell that she was trying her utmost to keep her calm gaze from faltering. Since he was just waking from a near-death experience, he might as well play this by ear and see how it goes.

"Uh... Annie?"

"-Armin, what are you doing?"

He paused. Armin felt his innards start to twist but Annie cut across his contorted thinking with an expected response.

"You better be feeling like shit right now, otherwise I'll be putting you back to sleep," the vehemence in her monotone rivaled Mikasa's unbridled fury she normally aimed towards the mention of their lovable captain Levi. He knew he'd illicit a threat from her but it still chilled Armin to the very bitter marrow in his bones.

_I can't say that I'm lying about feeling like shit at least. But seriously she and Mikasa are both terrifying. _

"Annie," he began again. "I thought... You were..."

Her frosty eyes released some of that seering anger as her thin mouth began to work itself against her clenched mandible, "I came back and finished redressing your wounds. Can you get off now or do I have to do that myself?"

He moved.

He managed to sit himself up but the act was wobbly and left him light-headed. He had to rest the majority of his weight on one arm while trying to correct his vision, his sight dancing precariously between blackness and what was in front of him. His weariness was still dragging him down considerably and he didn't have a lot of energy, so he swooned again at that second.

Just as he tilted backwards, Annie caught him and muttered, "I said get off. I know I said you had guts, but I meant it when I said you were weak too."

_I am tired of the half-assed comments I get from everybody. _

Armin's brow furrowed and his lower lip jutted out more as he returned in kind, "You're pretty weak yourself, with you lacking in resolve."

Annie's eyes narrowed in answer, but Armin didn't see it.

She leaned Armin against the wall behind her and went to make them their dinner, her face plastering on that typical bored expression she favored. She pulled out a few logs and sat by the entrance, trying to light a fire. He decided to watch her for a few minutes before losing interest and turning to size up their inventory. He felt his dread return when he saw no maneuvering gear, but that changed to intrigue when he eyed the bow and quiver.

"...No luck?"

"In what?" She snapped, clearly still abashed by his earlier accident.

Armin took in a slow breath, "In finding any gear."

Annie sat straighter in her seat in front of the puny flame she just barely managed to create, her face still holding that stubborn blankness. "No," she replied emotionlessly. "-But I would think the bow will help somewhat. The town was a hunting-dependent community, so it didn't need soldiers."

_-And therefore no maneuvering gear. Great._

Armin nodded to that, reminded briefly of Sasha and her understanding of such a way of life. The girl had told them that Dauper was an independent settlement that relied on their weapons and farming tools for defense, never truly needing the assistance of the military when push came to shove. Ragako wasn't that far off either, although the citizens there weren't quite as resilient as the Dauper people.

After that, Armin shut his eye again and tried to focus on chasing off the lingering head-ache. He must have been making some weird faces without realizing it because Annie had come over to inspect him once. She offered a mediocre and inexpensive pain killer that was clearly bartered from a faraway place that would have to suffice until their food was ready.

After which, quiet had become a frequent companion between them, its hush impenetrable. Armin struggled to keep himself awake, wise to the risk of falling asleep again while Annie was keeping to herself, cooking the small portions of food she'd gathered. The night hurried its arrival outside, but the day held on persistently with an afterglow of golden light blanketing their world outside.

Their dinner was done by the time twilight was at its apex. It may have sounded rude in the fact that it meant that he'd have to watch her eat first, but Armin insisted on Annie to dine before he. Annie protested and then threatened to shove it down his throat in answer, but Armin still was the winner in that fight; needing her to help him eat in a few minutes anyway. He couldn't one-hand it with a broken arm on one side and a painful finger on the other.

Armin also refrained from commenting on Annie's gross and unusual appetite, her rate of consumption rivaling the a fore-mentioned trainee. It seemed Annie's gone on for _days _without food, never really having much to consume ever since her awakening. Truth be told, Armin wished he didn't have to observe her wolfing down her food since his shrunken stomach was doing its best to give him a hard time during, but he said nothing of it.

Annie finished and made him a beggar's meal, but it would have to do since he was recovering. Armin acknowledged this humbly because he knew he'd throw up real food at this current moment in time, accepting Annie's aid in good graces. With the regrettable act of playing helpless (although it wasn't really playing in question), he slowly ate what he could, letting his mind wander as the minutes ticked by. Only half of the liquid broth was gone before it was refused and Annie went to save the rest. Armin then settled against the cavern wall and contemplated a few things, all the while his female companion busied herself with the maintenance of their provisions.

Hours into the night, Armin nodded off once but didn't repeat it when he awoke to Annie's touch, her eyes clouded with mixed but undiscernable emotion. The only feeling he was able to pick out of that was annoyance sadly. He shrugged that off and shook his head at her implied question of dressing his injuries again, but he did ask for a spare set of clothes. Annie batted an eye as if mentally indicating she was cursing at herself for forgetting his need for the articles, going to fetch them from their bag. A shirt slightly larger than expected was fitted over him, but at least the brisk night air was immediately thwarted. Armin was suddenly groggily warm and tired but still felt somewhat queasy. Of course, he never put voice to this; for he felt he had no right to complain.

As what was sure to be midnight drawing near, Annie finally broke their mute vigil.

"...We're going back out there tomorrow."

Armin opened his eye again and arrested his not-so blurry stare on her.

She continued with no particular inflection, her gaze resting on nothing in particular. "We've been here a couple of days you know. I know we should rest more, but-"

"I understand."

It was her turn to look up at him.

Armin's intense orb shone faintly in the fire's light, his voice surprisingly level. He shifted his shoulder a little as he said, "My weakness won't compromise the objective anymore. Its intolerable in any mission or expedition, and consequently ends with the injured being left to die."

Annie blinked as a response.

"This is something we both know," he continued. "Since I'm supposed to be your prisoner, you can do whatever you deem is necessary in this journey of ours. However, what I don't understand though is why you still continue to put up with my infirmities since they are great enough to affirm that I meet such a fate. Is the destination really worth the effort is what I am asking."

It seemed to be an innocent question that was deserving of an answer, but Annie knew Armin; he was trying to leak information from her again.

"It is," She matter-of-factly put. "-But I don't feel obliged to telling you where and what it is."

_Are we always doomed to play this game Annie? It's tiresome and frivolous to employ it even in typical conversation. _

"You're free to tell me what it is or withhold it," he looked at the fire again. "But to be honest, the selection of where is it that we can go is a little slim, don't you think?"

She said nothing to that. She just poked the guttering fire and tried to fan the building plume of smoke out the cave exit.

Armin took that as an indicator to proceed, "I had plenty of time to think while you were gone today. I mean, there isn't really many places we could go is there?"

Annie brushed some of hair out of her face, as if remembering that she needed a hair tie. "What about it?"

"...I'll get to the point; I know you claimed that I'm only still here because you wish to dispose of me on _your_ terms in the future, but that seemed a bit out of the way." Annie gave him a cold stare on that but he met her intimidating eyes no less, "The only thing I can see that would be worth the toils in this endeavor is the off-chance that I _may_ know where Eren's house is. So, we're going to Shiganshina, aren't we?"

The Female Titan shifter's cold and indifferent aura suddenly turned to boiling rage.

_I knew it. I can still outwit you even just a bit, huh Annie?_

"Get that stupid smirk off your insufferable face or else you'll be tasting hot ash in a second. That's a promise."

Armin didn't even know that he was smiling until she pointed it out. He stopped it and shrank back to his little corner and picked his nails as she went to putting out the fire.

"We'll leave at first light," she had to force herself not to spit. "If I hear you spout any more smart-ass commentary I'll drown you in that river outside."

"Just how are we going to-"

"Good night Arlert."

Her tone put the conversation at permanent rest. The boy knew he had worked at Annie's patience but she was being difficult on purpose when there was no need for it. However, this useless fight will soon be long forgotten in the following hours, their intentions aimed more or less at trying to leave being the fore-most important objective. For now, Armin had to settle for looking out into the thundering ravine outside, keeping at bay both his urge to sleep and the haunting sensation of knowing where is it that Annie was intending to go. He had to find some way of stopping her misuse of the information hidden within Dr. Jaeger's basement, or else he'd have to die trying. As bad as it sounds, it seemed as if the ladder was a far more likely; given that if he had any hope in stopping either Annie or the Titans while keeping mankind's hope alive.

_Annie, I just hope you're not as bad a person as I'm making you sound. Surely you don't want to hurt humanity anymore than you already have; do you?_


	5. Blurred Lines

_Whew! Being a writer sure is tedious, but hearing from you lovelies out there makes it all worth it. Once again, apologies for the slow-pace. At least you guys are being rewarded with an extra long and hopefully 'funnier' chapter!_

_Let us continue. Just remember that I'll be cutting some detailed corners and jumping days ahead from here in. Just some days anyway... *Cries loudly and grossly at incompetence*_

_Oh and there will be fluff in the future, but you have to be patient. I am writing in multiple chapters at once since my inspiration is up right now but it makes the writing process slower, so forgive the long updates friends. It will be well worth it._

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **__I'm revising older chapters and they will be changed in the future; you just can't tell now. Make sure to keep an eye out. I should have warned you readers that I'm fussy with my own writing style. My stories tend to change a little._

_Anyway, as usual, enjoy. :)_

* * *

The following morning started out easily enough, if you count the near-death experiences the norm of their world. As one can consider in these times of great adversity of what the definition of what normal truly was, death was in fact a regular part of the everyday routine.

Annie had awoken early that morning and went right to packing their things in an orderly and fastidious fashion; evenly distributing the weight of their items throughout the traveling packs and satchels. Doing so will make wearing the bags easier and prevent any future lumbar issues from being incurred, but it wouldn't really matter much to a constantly regenerating shifter like her. She only did this because she didn't want to have a bad posture trained into her from repetitive wear.

It was after that she supplied a few bites of their dried peasants' breakfast of vegetable bites to herself and looked up to watch as Armin stirred from the pitiful heap of make-shift bed linens she had found the previous day. What she had noticed as he moved was the startlingly amount of wakefulness that she had managed to catch as he adjusted himself.

"You awake already?"

Armin lifted his head to look at her with a pain-dulled stare that betrayed his overall discomfort. He was indeed awake, but his face was furrowed in some places and his breathing was suddenly detectable. His face was soaking in sweat around the temples.

He looked worse for wear this morning.

_He must not have slept at all._

She immediately went to fetch for the vile of pain-killer and walked over to the boy with a flask of water in tow. He did take the water readily enough and swallowed the tablet in an agonized manner, his hand shaking.

"Give it a few minutes," she mumbled.

"I know," he croaked.

Annie went to get some breakfast for him while he recuperated, her mind nagging her about being so rough with him while she traveled. She gave to her male companion something both hydrating and bitter to swallow in terms of food, but Armin couldn't even identify what it was and when he asked Annie had refrained from answering. He wasn't so sure of eating the rest of it after that and then muttered something about feeling nauseated.

"You in any condition to move today?" She inquired.

He took his time in answering as he sipped tentatively from the bag. After wiping his lip he replied, "I guess once the medication sets in. Its not like we have a choice in the matter."

Annie flicked her head in order to move the hank of air that typically hung in front of her eyes. She sighed heavily, her head fogged with doubt as to Armin's recovery. She can only assume that he might get worse if she doesn't take it easy, and he was the only company she had until she can find Reiner and Bertholdt. Ultimately, she settled for going to adjust the remaining bits of gear she had and put most other thought aside.

Armin watched as Annie fussed with her improvised rock-climbing harness without much interest. She tested the strength of their 3-DM straps, which will only hold enough weight to support a single small-framed individual despite the combination of two sets of belts and leather. It was too iffy to try and carry two people or even make another trip down for their items in the damaged ravine, also to note the twisting ends of the leather as it is worn away with use. Annie was about to spit a foul word about it but decided against both it and making multiple risky trips.

All she could do now was head to the exit and tried to figure out how this climb was going to work since she had to consider Armin and his unusually heavier physique into the equation; he had some twenty or more pounds over her. He had gained some height-weight in their separation while she had remained in unaging and unchanging stasis as he had grown taller and heavier in the weeks they spent apart; months if her calculation was correct. Armin and Annie's combined weight would cause the line to snap and they would most certainly plummet towards an unpleasant flesh-shredding end in the whipping waters below.

She could transform at the top and lower her hand down but not only did that attract attention but it left her unguarded. Worse yet, her slender limbs were just a meter shy of the actual cave entrance and she couldn't lift anything out if her fingers couldn't touch anything. The cave exit was also too narrow for certain digits to fit anyhow.

_Its a wonder that I managed to even get over here at all in the first place. _

Armin was thinking more clearly today and the pill was starting to work, so he saw this and supplied that she should climb to the top without their things and scope the area first. Once she deemed it clear, she could then turn the harness into a rope that could lower down where he can hook their provisions onto it and she'll lift it up and away. She would have to be fast in the case that there was some early-rising Titans, but hopefully there were none to worry about.

The key word being hopefully.

"But how will you get up there without me carrying you?" She asked.

"Once the items are up with you, lower it back down to me. If you don't have enough length, try to use your jacket; its in pristine condition," He added with a slight gesture. "I'll settle to using the remaining length, no matter how much or how little it is, to entwine it around myself in some way. Then we pray to the wall goddesses I don't let go and nothing breaks before I reach the top."

Her sapphire eyes lit up at the idea but she was skeptical. Armin's plans always had a high risk factor in them. "Are you sure that will work?"

"It's fine... I think. I'll probably have to bite down on it too if need be," he replied with a deceptively calm undertone. His eye spoke of his doubt of managing this in his injured state, but it was all they got.

After all, he had nearly been dead yesterday. He was only like this today because he had a pain-killer in his system now.

He had also thrown in, "And if all of that doesn't work, you'll have to risk a fast transformation, lower the harness and I'll do what I can about the bag and myself. Just remember that priority matters in our situation."

He was staring at the floor when he added, "This has always been the case."

Annie may have had some trust issues with him funnily enough, but she knew he was right, or as Jean would so blandly say, "He is the man with the plan." His many plans (with the exception of the last one in Stohess) had always worked or flowed well enough to fit the changing nature of their battles, so a transportation issue shouldn't be so nerve-wracking. She also had to credit him for not only his courage but his unerring intellect; this must be one of the reasons why she chose not to kill him in the 57th expedition as far as she can believe.

Annie did consider tossing the bag away, but she had worked too damn hard just to lose it now. It will have to last them until after they climb Wall Rose and head into Maria's vacated lands beyond. It was either that or ditch it whenever they find any maneuvering gear. Even then, she knew that they would not be so fortunate as to find anything else in any decent condition to utilize in the Titan-controlled territory. They would need the stupendously heavy supplies to last them at least some days if not more.

Nodding in confirmation of their loose and hastily-constructed plan, she had to put her nagging thoughts aside so she may focus on the now. Putting on the harness alongside the bow and quiver, she did as she had the day prior and began the treacherous trek up along the same clefts carved into the cliff side. Armin watched her go and waited, memorizing the detail of the path in the off-chance that his line would indeed give.

Annie made it to the top quickly enough but took her time in taking in what was around her. She made sure to look carefully before she clambered over the ledge fully and rose onto her feet. She glanced back down at him and signed, informing him of the current lack in Titan activity. This was the plus to working in the gray predawn before the sun warmed the beasts into animation; the all clear was expected but no less welcomed.

Annie now had to quickly change her harness into a rope, unclipping as many buckles as she could and still darting uneasy glances around the terrain for any movement. Her stomach churned as she worked, her senses screaming for her to hasten her activity as she struggled with the many links and ends. She also had to stretch it out a few times and measure the fullest distance she would get and compared it to the length of her Titan arm. If the harness was any shorter, plus the jacket, it will never reach the cave as well as she would hope. She would have to climb down part-ways and hook herself into a crack or rock lip that will give her some leverage for her next task, if not do as Armin instructed earlier and use her Titan form.

_All this for some measily items. If we didn't need them so badly..._

As was her luck, she needed to use her Military Police jacket to give it some more length, but it was sufficient enough to keep from transforming. She simply anchored herself into the cliff side and lowered it, watching the carabiner tip inch slowly down towards the waiting boy. Holding the entire line by the tied up sleeve of her former uniform, she watched as the soldier grabbed the line and pulled with all his strength. It wasn't like he had a lot of it, but he pulled as far down as he could against Annie's grip. With everything in order so far, he released it, signed her back 'okay' and attempted to lift the heavy bag from the ground.

For a heart shaking moment she thought he couldn't pick it up, but his broken finger was what caused the hold up. She was able to breathe collectively once she saw him lift it up after a few breaths, though the handling was difficult for him. He elevated it above his chest in tear-straining effort and shakily tried his best to latch the carabiner to the sack's hand grip.

_His waist must feel like its on fire._

She had to shake off the lapse of advent pity that she had spared for the boy and returned her focus to what's going on. Annie reminded herself to brace for the provisions' oncoming weight that may potentially snap the leather rope. Just as Armin succeeded in his task, the combined harnesses groaned and sighed warningly, but held. Armin fell onto his rump and gasped but Annie couldn't spur the moment then. She had to concentrate on wasting no time in pulling the hefty sucker up.

Her teeth clenched as she fought both gravity and haste as her thin but well-trained arms managed the arduous task of lifting the fifty pound sack of items. It was a chore that was done and over with in the tense minutes that passed, apprehension fluttering away with it. She grabbed the bag and tossed it onto the flat-land with almost a practiced flourish before taking a swift breather; her training with Keith having really paid off she could not help but think. She looked back down at the boy below, noticing the way his right hand was placed over his stained shirt on the opposite side.

_He's bleeding again._

"Arlert! Is everything alright down there?"

_And there I go again with that being kind thing._

Annie's question was not immediately met with a response and it chilled her more so than the freezing morning air. However, she relaxed when he called back through a constrained hiss, "I'm fine. Just lower the rope again."

After a moment, her feelings still getting the better of her, she re-secured the jacket's end she was holding before lowering the harness back down to Armin. He forced himself to stand but he staggered and almost collapsed again. The shifter had to wait as he remastered himself and fussed with the clip, silently dreading the thought of the next thing she had to hull. Armin was at least seventy pounds heavier than the bag and he was no light-weight despite his bony frame. He was also ready to pass out and she would have to be gentle about lifting him up.

The boy did not attach himself to the line right away; he pulled the carabiner into the leather it was linked to and made a loop, sliding it along and testing its durability. He pulled again and nodded before removing his sling next and wrapping it around the harness and clumsily tied the ends together, his broken arm holding itself up awkwardly. He then put his foot into the new noose and lifted himself into the rope, albeit in a slower manner to allow for Annie the moment to brace herself against him.

_Holy wall gods, he's heavier than I thought._

She was able to toss Reiner over his own head once and he was an amazing two-hundred pounds in terms of rough estimate, but the action of flipping him had been quick, decisive, and well-deserved at the time. She obviously had not been hanging precariously from a brittle edge over vicious rapids when she did it. This was a slow fight against nature that she cannot afford to lose to. At least Arlert wasn't as large as Reiner or else they would have had to abandon the whole endeavor.

_If he was a shifter I wouldn't have to deal with this right now, that's for damn sure._

As Annie pulled, Armin bit into the cloth of his former sling and used his free hand to grasp a rock ledge and placed his weight against that instead, giving Annie some reprieve. She was able to lift him a bit faster as he attempted to scale the cliff-face in his own unorthodox way, but it was still time-consuming. It was a sum of at least several stretched minutes or so before he was even halfway up.

That's when the line decided to groan again.

Annie froze for only milliseconds as if to identify what the sound belonged to before she was hurrying herself to pull him up. Armin meanwhile felt his blood leave his cheeks and his fingers' grip only got sweatier and harder to grasp. His adrenaline was about to pour from already exhausted reservoirs and his breakfast threatened to return as he climbed. The links were still functioning as they should, but the used leather reminded them that it had reached its limit as it started to tear.

Annie kept yanking on the harness without distraction relatively well, but her nerves were trembling like her fists. Once Armin was already some meter's distance from herself she tried to reach for him without waiting to finish pulling him all the way up. He was already doing his best to rest his weight on the ravine wall and reach for her but it did little to lesson the burden on the line. It still continued to rip and that process was only speeding up. Armin tried as he might to grab her out-stretched hand but he had already surmised when the make-shift rope was about to give.

Which was about now.

Both teens felt their hearts stop as a muted _snap _was heard, and he had suddenly lost some of the height he had barely gained. However, Armin had hugged the wall enough to keep from dropping away totally, leaving only the harness to flop past him and the noose he had been balancing himself in fell away. As the spent remnants of their gear disappeared into the white water below Annie had released the jacket and darted down towards him, tearing new holes into her palms as she did so.

Armin had released the sling he had bitten into as well, now busy with slapping his limbs into the rock as he struggled to hold himself up and lift himself towards her. His legs frantically attempted to locate some sort of leverage but his boots were not the ideal image of climbing gear.

The female shifter could now see the distress painted onto the blood-less countenance of her prisoner, intermingled with almost mindless pain as well. His broken arm was doing its best to hold onto the crack in the rock face but he had no strength whatsoever to anchor himself there for no more than a few precious seconds.

Armin though was one lucky boy that day when she grabbed him by the neckline of his somewhat over-sized shirt and yanked him upwards. She had caught her feet in a sliver cut into the stone, and though it was breaking her toes she still persisted in saving the lad. Armin hooked his fingers around her wrist and heaved, his feet finally and smoothly meeting the clefts in the cliff and rising slowly. It was less than a minute later that they both managed to climb over the chipping ledge and onto the greenery of the land.

Settling for a short break, they fell onto their bottoms and gasped, fighting for breath. Annie was fairing much better while Armin was doing his best to try and breathe through gritted teeth, hissing as he clutched at his arm. Trying to regulate their heart rate neither said a word as they rested and regained their common sense. Armin was nursing his arm and spitting foul words after a few minutes and it made Annie look up at him, her gaze unreadable. She crawled over and attempted to inspect the cast but the boy merely shook his head at her.

"Its... fine. I just need a new sling is all," he mouthed.

"You better hope you didn't break it more," she stated without inflection, but it was a light lie. She was just trying to push her concern away again. She took the time in taking in the new bloody smear on his hip, his new shirt ruined.

Armin just then lifted his attention away from his searing injuries in favor of watching her, as if trying to gauge her in a manner that implied that he didn't hear her. It compelled Annie to scowl in automatic self-defense, her eyes flinty.

After a pause, he had uttered with some doubt etched into his voice, "...I don't get it."

"Get what?" She snapped.

His azure eye was a mixture of things that grated on Annie's nerves so fast that she couldn't find a reason for the hostility. She couldn't even discern the emotions flitting about behind his masked gaze. Forgetting about the sympathy she was lending him she resumed her reflexive outward cynical persona.

Armin's blanched features reflected on something for only another few seconds before he just shook his head, his expression suddenly a shocking amiable glow. His working arm stopped rubbing the other injured limb as his mouth pursed itself in thought. Ultimately, he had only answered with some exhaustion, "...Its just a passing after-thought. Don't worry about it."

She sniffed, her temper ready to flare itself up at the weak barrier he put up around himself. She couldn't find the reason for his slight smile and gentler tone when he had been so brusque and nosy with her personal thoughts over the last few days. It was the first real smile that he had given her ever since before the Female Titan's rampage in the expedition.

_Has it really been months ever since someone cared enough to give me such a gesture...?_

Annie got up, her movements stiff and irate for unknown reasons and walked over to their bag to search for a new sling for the boy, deciding against redressing his opened wound and saving it for another time. Her fingers were burning from the strain she had put in them and her warm ring felt like it carved an indent of itself against her knuckle. Her hands began to sizzle next as if on cue, the cuts in her palms superficial but profuse in bleeding. Ignoring that, she bent over the sack to pick it up but she had noticed from the corner of her eye that the sun was rising fast enough in the horizon to worry her. It informed them both that they needed to leave before the first Titans began to stir. Moreover, she didn't have the time to find Armin something for his useless arm since they would have to postpone that until they reached the next town.

Armin must have reached the same conclusion at the same time because he had tried to get to his feet next, but his footing was shaky and it reduced him to a pile of trembling extremities. His skin paled considerably despite its already waxed appearance and sweat glistened around his temple. Annie couldn't help but let her annoyance with him go away upon seeing this outward display of weakness.

_...He was always so delicate. How did he survive training for those years when it was known to kill some recruits? To put forth all that effort just so he can stay with his unusual friends and then wind up here, far from them... _

_Just because of me._

Annie debated something for a minute, her eyes softening further without her companion seeing. She acknowledged that he had done nothing short of trying his utmost to prove himself both effective and useful as an ally and companion throughout the time that had gone by. He was not a sadist or an unstable head-case like Eren, and he was social on top of that, although he possessed no apt artifice in making friends. He had tried to give her an out back in Stohess even after confronting her and blowing her cover. He gave her a chance to redeem herself but she simply could not take it then. He waited an entire month after the encounter to do something about her, all because he didn't want to stake her out. Ruthless as he potentially can be, he was still Armin; the awkward, smart and forgiving of the 104th Trainees Division.

_But still, the way he acted days ago after I swept him up into this mess. That mental state of his seemed... off. Nice as he is, I can't help feeling that he is't the same._

_...I'll have to think about this later._

After a pause, she finally spoke, her tone possessing no feeling and arresting the boy's attention to herself.

"Hey, Arlert."

"Eh?"

Trying to be light-hearted about their ongoing dilemma, an act that she was clearly not used to, she had tried to say without any true insult intended, "Lose some weight. I thought you were as a light as a dandelion before."

Armin wrinkled his nose at her and retorted with some scathing annoyance, "Well, maybe you just got weaker."

_Ouch Armin. I thought you used to just take these kinds of comments from everybody else without the snarky answers. Been around Kirchstein too much?_

She met his baleful stare with a far more benign look, her attempt at friendly conversation still not abated, "Becoming a fat-ass eating machine like Braus won't be helping us here you know. That's all I'm saying."

_What the hell is wrong with my social skills? Am I just that out of practice? He's clearly tired of this shit._

"You can't prove that," His breath had finally come back and his frustrated and pinched expression started to vanish, relieving Annie. She had thought he had taken her first comment quite seriously, but that had been a ruse. "If anything, I barely ate at all since when you got our food."

Annie shook her head at him, the smile only evident in her eyes. "I promise to make due on those earlier threats if you keep talking."

This surprised Armin and Annie can tell; his face said it all. She can only guess that he had been feeling uneasy about her until now. The air of the atmosphere had made them both feel lighter than they had been in any of their previous conversations and it was odd to Annie. She had surely believed that she lost him as an ally long ago; yet strangely, her quip left Armin to betray honest merriment within those glimmering dephs of his normally scholar-like stare. It warmed her in an alien sense, but she pushed the sentiment aside forcibly.

Annie had to admit, she would rather settle for something like this rather than walking on eggshells around him. It was reminisient of their times in training and that was a treasure alone. However, she could not afford to pretend to be so friendly with him after all that was said and done. He was a captive who was barely on his last legs and someone who had sold her out willingly. Annie knew she hated the boy deep down, and she still unerringly did in some way that she couldn't word out, but how can she react after an ordeal like this?

Trying to act her composed self again, she had added with a hint of warning, "Also-" All the chaste warmth of the moment disappearing. "-I need to warn you; I can't be so gentle since we're in a hurry. You'll just have to suck it up since I can't help it otherwise," Her glacieral stare was suddenly resting on the far-most dawn-tinted spires of the clouds. "This will be a very taxing trip, and you're supposed to be recovering. I don't want this whole trip to kill you yet."

"I know," he had grunted with some sardonic air. His face was back to that awful mask of concealed loathing that he had had the first day she awoke. "You made yourself clear about finishing the job yourself. I'll keep that in mind, Annie."

After he had said this, she could not help feel like that comment was somehow misplaced. It wasn't like she can take back what she said days ago; she had meant it then: The big question though was the now.

_Why does the idea of backing my earlier bet such a leave such a horrible taste in my mouth?_

"By the way Annie. Can you turn around or go somewhere else for a second?"

Stirred from her thoughts, she couldn't help but ask, "Why should I?"

"Because I really have to piss," He tossed at her rather dryly. "Unless you really want a bodily accident in your hands, I suggest you scoot."

* * *

Annie was no joker; she had been truthful about the trek ahead.

Her body's movements had rattled Armin over and over again during their run, but it wasn't as rough with the med he took regularly and she had indeed backed her words on the attempt at making the whole thing easier for Armin. It continued to be like that not only for that day but the others following.

Over the next portion of the two days they spent fleeing, they had to do the same as they did in that cavern in the Hunter's Town. Hiding from every Titan they came across while on the occasion Annie would lop off the heads of some so they escape became routine. The rested in hovels in high places but had to take turns with shifts since there was no river to protect them from probing giant's hands. Conversations were short and to the point and always had something to do with the situation at hand. They saw barely any villages as they went and they were all not unlike the last; no maneuvering gear was sighted and carrion was always present, making the air stagnant with the rot of the victims.

All the human causalities within the Rose Territory seemed to have piled up and it made the pair queasy no matter where they went. During their visit to such an area Armin had thrown up not as a consequence of his condition but because of the foul odors permeating the streets. Annie had fought the urge herself but did not put voice to it and bypassed the silent graves except for the one time that she had to stop to find a hair tie so she can put her locks back into its traditional bun as well as tend to Armin.

They had to stay away from such sites for a valid reason otherwise; Titans tend to gravitate towards settlements and it made navigating the areas all the less tempting. Add to that the over-whelming stench of decay and ruin and you have yourself sure-fire human repellent. Armin could get sick being near the places and it would surely kill him in no time at all. Procuring food from such a rodent infested grave site was a bad idea and it did well to keep both Annie and her companion away from the numerous plots of formally settled land that started to look an awful lot like the lands in Maria.

They never paused for as long as they had required the first days in; Annie's intentions was clearly aimed at getting to Shiganshina as fast as her Titan's legs can carry her. This brought Armin back from his earlier thoughts about what he can do about her apparent objective, but he had no way of confirming whether or not her goal was selfish or otherwise. He would just have to either ask her or worm it out of her patiently. So as hours were passed and days slipped away, he tried his best to mind himself and try to figure her out. The joke she had mused with him a while before had left him baffled. Instilled within him was the doubt of her very personality and sense of human rationality. Just when he had thought he had her finally figured out too back in Stohess.

_Perhaps, she is not as hostile as I had assumed. You would think she would save her breath instead of wasting it on someone she has considered an insect compared to all of her Titan power._

He couldn't be sure unless he tried, but venturing so would shatter what little they had managed to create between them after that one stupid moment days before, whatever that was. It was probably insignificant, but it was _progress_. He had already figured from just her behavior when she made the anecdote that she could possibly be a far more forgiving or more sarcastic an individual than he ever could have guessed. Despite this, Armin was always daring in even simple conversation, and though he had few friends in a way, he was a people person no matter how you look at it; add to that a great judge of character. He can only hope that asking her about certain matters will not prompt her to shut down and lock him out again and add more insulting threats at him while she was at it.

_And I don't need her reconsidering her decision to spare me. She already seemed nice enough to do all this for me as it is. She didn't have to give me that pain killer and insist that I eat first._

_Or constantly ask if I'm okay and check my condition every few minutes to an hour..._

_...Or make sure that I don't die whenever I go to sleep..._

Armin's thoughts floored him then. Annie was always proving the stereotype about her and her reputation wrong every time someone paid attention. She was a living cipher; save for the fact that she was so damned complicated that Armin surely believed he would be pulling his hair out by now trying to figure her out. Putting all of this information at the fore-front of his mind, Armin could not help but wonder why she would go to all these lengths just for the location of Eren's house.

_Wait a second; she hates me and she disagrees with my sense of morality, so why do all this for me anyway? Isn't this too much trouble for someone who has every intention of supporting the Titan's advance?I betrayed her for Rose's sake!_

It was when they reached another town did they encounter their next obstacle and Armin had to temporarily put these ideas aside.

It was one of the last checkpoints before reaching Rose's barrier, and following the river would bring them to Trost without a doubt. Annie though, Armin can safely assume will not be taking such a forward path. She had told him that morning that she will be climbing the wall without fail this time far off the to side of the town. No Mikasa or Eren to stop her.

_And after that, we would have made it to Maria Territory._

Armin couldn't find anything wrong with the idea, except that he was still a unwilling accomplice in a self-imposed mission and he was half-dead on top of that, but it wasn't like he can yell for help in a place like this anyway. That real problem though is that they were still sorely lacking in the gear department.

Annie didn't seem perturbed by this dilemma. She had only flatly stated with a shake of her head, "This town is only a couple miles from Trost. After the attack, I would think the areas surrounding the gates would have been filled with warehouses holding the gear. There's a great chance of finding a working set from here."

Armin had nodded in contemplative agreement, "That's true enough, but what of the dangers on encountering a Titan before-hand? Your transformation and Titan form draws too much attention. The entire place will be on top of us."

Both shared a puzzled look as they thought, but Annie had responded as if the possibility didn't exist. "We'll just have to be cautious Arlert. Maybe we can find some things to use as distractions in the area."

"If we're lucky," he sniffed.

Annie shrugged.

Her uncertainty should have chilled the boy, but at this point, the danger did not seem so terrible after all they had done so far. They had survived in a land filled with the walking sacks of teeth and terror for an almost an entire week; no expedition in recorded history could had ever come close. Armin wasn't sure why, but he had started to blot out fear of them as of recently, after the incident in the Hunter's town. He chalked that up to the pain-killer and the whole feel of the environment that he had gotten used to. Titans and their truest natures had been laid bare to him, and he knew the reason why they acted the way they did and he was no longer frightened of them because of that. The Titans themselves were not a source of nightmarish horror to him anymore.

It was the thought that the King and the Central Military Police were trying so hard to hold their self-important positions that disgusted Armin the most. It was the ignorant and the greedy with power that made the boy sick to his stomach. As far as he was concerned, they were something to be far more frightened of than of mankind's long-time enemy.

_Maybe what we find in Eren's cellar will change all that._

The pair had agreed in the end that they would have to settle for being exceptionally quiet and lucky. They had been nothing short of so far.

Keeping their walk reduced to a near-crawling prowl, both Armin and Annie strode toward the detritus of former civilization, the shifter keeping the lead and gesturing for the other to follow. Annie had to carry the largest bag, but she couldn't ask Armin to do it obviously; it would aggravate the wound around his hip. At the very least he was able to toat the pair of satchels with certain items tucked away in them, plus the bow and quiver of arrows. It lightened Annie's load just by a pound or so and she can feel the difference.

At any rate, they headed into the river-side residence, both blonds watching the larger Titans skirting the edges and keeping an eye out for the smaller and more dangerous threats. Annie had surely enough located a 4-meter almost at once and motioned for Armin to stop and stay low. The creature didn't leave the area for minutes at a time and it caused for the two to move onto a detour. Creeping by, the two managed to find their way into a house less than a block away and hid themselves in it, trying to loot it for anything light and easy to carry into their hand pouches instead of the cumbersome bag Annie already thought of leaving once but reconsidered.

They still found no gear, but they did locate some food that had been gnawed on by the neighborhood rats.

Annie narrowed her eyes and put out her lower lip, Armin spitting an expletive nearby after searching the whole building. The pair quickly made their way out with some caution and proceeded to search the next building and repeated the process. The same happened in the one here-after.

It had only been when they found a large metal structure sitting near the town square did the two feel like that was a potential candidate for housing the gear. It was conveniently next to the river and it had a loading dock, though it was obviously empty. Armin and Annie continued to slip down to it, their pace swift but cautious.

"It must be a storage facility," Armin grumbled more to himself.

"If it is," Annie stooped into a hedge and sat with the boy for a collective second so they can rest. "We'll have our means of escape soon enough. It will mean we'll have to ditch the heavy bag once we start using the 3-D maneuvering gear. We need to stay as light as possible if we hope to use it at all."

Armin didn't argue with that.

However, their path was not entirely clear: a few fairly large Titans haunted the perimeter of the block that contained the storage center. Annie and Armin quickly deduced that all five were at least 10-meters or more. The odds of one of them being an aberant was also considered.

"Of course," Armin breathed. "Can it ever be easy?'

Annie blinked at the possibility. "No," she mumbled. "It can and never will be that easy."

"It was a rhetorical question," He had put out in exasperation. "Hearing that come out of you makes me uneasy about what you could have experienced before all this."

Annie reacted in a way the made Armin wish he never said that. She had in fact _smiled _ever so slightly in answer to his statement, never specifying nor saying anything in relativity of the shift in conversation.

The two left the silence as it is and waited as Annie quickly gauged which way might be safest, her smile erasing itself from existence. She was able to see an area that can be both swift and unguarded, but it was completely open terrain with no buildings near it in the case a Titan should see them. It was right by the docks and water, but there was no cover. Annie eliminated that and turned to take in the area where the giants were currently standing in: No possible way to get by without knowing if there was a 7-meter or smaller traipsing the street somewhere that could be unseen. Going completely around was a waste of time; the chances of finding a smaller Titan seemed higher in some areas and the larger could move from one location to the next in the time spent circling.

Just as Annie thought the whole thing was a pointless attempt that they will have to ignore, Armin surprised her with one of his infamous risky ideas.

"You know," He settled himself right next to her, barely a couple of hand-spans apart. "You could swim to the likely unlocked doors right by the boardwalk, although we would have to leave the baggage behind."

Annie stared at him incredulously.

He leveled her with a pragmatic stare as he went on, "Do you want to wait until nightfall instead?"

She folded her arms, "No, its just... Swimming to the door. Won't a Titan see us if its shallow enough?"

"If they are afraid of water and can't swim, then who cares?" Armin replied in a way that was quite Ymir-like.

"What did I say about the smart-ass answers, Arlert?" She said rather nicely but it meant something truly insidious. "I don't ever remember you being such a sarcastic pain in the ass."

Armin's follow-up smile was nothing short of false, "If only you knew the half of it."

Annie rolled her eyes and took in the idea despite the sarcasm, "So what do we do then? Do you honestly think swimming could help?"

Armin paused, his eye dimmer, "I can't swim all that well. I meant that _you _could swim over there and leave the bag here. We can only take what we can carry in our satchels after all."

"You can't swim? Seriously?" She turned to look at him, almost in disbelief of what she heard.

"I never really practiced enough. On the other hand I can't do it in this condition even if I wanted too. I have some unpleasant memories of the whole idea anyway. Why does this even matter anyway?" He asked as he returned the look.

It was her turn to wonder what his so called normal childhood might have been like before the fall.

Armin continued, despite Annie's visible sign of curiosity, "Even if the Titans do see you, they will be drawn to the water where you are and if they are indeed hydrophobic, won't come anywhere near you. It will allow me the ability to get to the building without any detection while you duck out of sight and disappear. You're good at doing that aren't you?"

Annie shuddered, "Swimming isn't my idea of getting by unseen."

His next stare made her suddenly uncomfortable.

"What now?"

"Well," he began slowly. "Are you implying that you are actually afraid of large bodies of-"

He couldn't finish the last sentence; Annie's eyes were by far the iciest that he had even seen them.

After that, Annie removed her glowering gaze from the lad (in which he was immensely grateful for) and was noted observing the sluggish movement of the water by the docks. Annie nibbled on her lower lip again, informing the boy that she was contemplating his idea but she was trying to think around it. It seemed that deep water may in fact bother her as he had earlier assumed since her face was the picture brittle hesitation.

"The Titans..." she began almost under her breath. "Do you really believe that they're aqua-phobic-"

"Hydrophobic."

"Whatever. You know what I mean."

Armin's cerulean orb arrested onto the body of dark water, "...I can't say for sure. I would have thought you would have been able to tell me that."

The warrior blinked at him.

"You know more about these things than I do," he defended. "You're the shifter with all the secrets."

Her lacking in any answer caused for him the intense need to fidget but he ignored it largely. Armin would have thought an experienced Titan shifter like her may know more about their enemy since she had tried to bring humanity down herself alongside her acquaintances Reiner and Bertholdt. But it seemed that she was almost as in the dark about it as he was.

_I wonder if shifters and Titans both have a problem with water... What's worse is that despite Annie's role in all this she seems almost as ignorant as the rest of us in a way._

_That really does bother me._

His female friend's flat voice suddenly broke his thoughts, "-And this is merely going by theory."

"Yes," He had murmured with some uncertainty.

"-Say your theory is wrong. Then what?"

"That is up to you," he had said while taking in the sights before him.

She groaned, "As if life hasn't fucked us all over..."

Armin's sudden bark of barely stifled laughter made Annie nearly jump out of their hiding place, "It would seem that way wouldn't it?"

Both had thoroughly frightened the other in an uncharacteristic show of their overall idea of the reality around them in a small span of minutes that day, and it was only getting started. Dismissing that, Annie decided to relent and try to stick to his plan. The question of whether the Titans would wade in after her was a likely possibility, but since the river's flow was gentle enough for Annie to swim through it fast enough it didn't seem so bad. It would give the giants an easier time of pursuing her if they decided to follow after her, but that seemed like a ridiculous idea. It wasn't like there was a much better plan though; she can only mutely hope that the Titans would slip into the water and fall over because of the loose silt at the bottom given that they don't drown first. Blowing off their heads was never enough to kill them to begin with, so why consider a possible drowning?

Armin could not help but shiver as Annie skulked away to enact the crazy idea of swimming in blatant view of their enemies. He went to work to trying to open the over-sized bag and take what his broken body would allow itself to carry and looked up constantly in anxious haste. His concern for the girl was making his stomach feel like a nest of slithering maggots.

_I just hope this plan works better than my last one. Our luck never seems to find some sort of stable path in which it wants to stay._

* * *

Annie had managed to get to the water undetected and went to submerge herself, but her instincts fought against the detestable idea of going through with it. It wasn't that she was a bad swimmer; she was quite good at it in actuality, but it was really the idea of getting the Titans' attentions drawn onto herself that made her uneasy. If the river wasn't deep enough, then there would certainly be consequences. Last time she checked, larger Titans should be sinkers given their weight, but that left her to guess what the smaller might be like in an aquatic chase. Are they buoyant or are they just a touch too heavy for the possibility?

_I hope they sink too. I'm worried about the larger ones sticking their heads out the surface at this point. Or reaching up to get me..._

She pushed the idea aside and waded in ankle-deep before stopping altogether when the water slammed her nerves with a frosty vice. Retreating from it, this told her that the weather was sure to change into winter soon enough, and that was never a good sign. She had thought the river further upstream and closer to the Sina barrier had been both rough and cold because of its depth, but it seemed that nature was indeed changing its face and she had not hallucinated the cascading freeze that had arrived with her submersion earlier on. Her Titan's heat had fought it off initially but that had started to desert her when she had struggled to paddle through the white water. Being in human form now only demonstrated where and when is it that the time has settled within her inner clockwork. She was now certain of where the year really was and it made her feel like this whole trip was just a major attempt on her own life as well as Arlert's.

Putting the run-around thoughts aside, she decided to just dive in and be quick about it. Going in slowly will do her and Armin no good since they will soon be blinded when night comes. There was no moon tonight and getting to the wall will become a dangerous endeavor; especially since they will not be able to see any Titans in the curtain of impossible darkness before reaching the final hurdle.

Annie played with the idea of just transforming and killing the bastards in the town but there was just too many to dispatch on her own and it might draw a crowd from the miles of open land all around. Stealth winning over headstrong endurance in battle, the girl followed the bank for a brief few paces before finding a meter-high ledge that loomed over the water, making it some sort of diving spot for the kids that used to live here. She took a running start and closed her eyes.

And wished that she was strangling a certain blond somewhere nearby.

_Armin fucking Arlert strikes once again with his smart-ass antics. I swear I'll end him and it doesn't have to be in a way that will kill him. I fucking HATE cold weather._

_And cold water even more so._

* * *

Armin hunkered down into the hiding spot he had so carefully crawled to and eye-balled the 3-meter standing as plain as the late afternoon sun in front of him. It was remarkable how Titans can smell so awfully like every other human being that they have ever consumed and let decompose in their innards until they decided to vomit. Moreover, they are fortunately very incredibly lacking in the intelligence department but make up for it with a learning and instinctual ingenuity that appalled most people; the exception being the Commander Hanji of course.

The boy settled himself down onto his rear and sighed; his thoughts have been hovering over to his friends more and more often and it was the pain of probably never seeing them again that was really getting to him. His hope had dwindled the further they had gotten from the inner circle and headed closer still to the barren land that was Maria. Mikasa must be worrying a storm and as for Eren; if he has somehow escaped with Historia, must be on a relentless hunt trying to find him.

_He must be a fireball of crackling wrath right now if he is out and about; Mikasa right along-side him if they knew Annie had awoken and taken me up into this 'grand' adventure. The evidence of her escape is at the base of Stohess's wall in many fragmented pieces and in the form of fine, powdered dust..._

If they were searching, a selfish part of Armin partially hoped that they were making the strive to find him, but he was slightly worried about what they would do if they succeeded.

The key word being if.

_Killing Annie would be too lenient a punishment for Eren. I can only guess what Mikasa would do to her if she found us too. Or Levi if he cares enough... Annie stands no chance against them if they decide to come._

The nearby Titan with the oddly pronounced nose (which was Annie-like much to Armin's humor) snorted loudly and almost compelled the boy to snicker but he quelled the urge. In his detached state of mind he vaguely imagined what the person inside may have been like as a human, making up a wild back-story about the individual that may have seemed believable. It wasn't like he had anything else to do until the neanderthal either moved or Annie made herself seen. He didn't have the endurance to out-run the creature so waiting for her to make some sort of racket would be helpful right about now.

As if on cue, the Titan straightened itself up as a noise of splashing water sounded somewhere off in the distance. It's lop-sided smirk grew ever more grotesque as it spied the girl off in the river and stumbled off to an ambling pace that was both rushed and unnaturally swift.

As soon as its back was turned, Armin prayed for Annie's safe passage and dashed out without waiting for any more to show. He power-walked over to the adjacent street and wasted no time in navigating over to the alley-way leading to the next block. Keeping his hand over the band crossing over his chest from the quiver, he felt like he couldn't move fast enough in order to avoid the many Titans that were within the vicinity. His single eye roamed the terraces and streets with a speed that was fueled by both adrenaline and haste, his throat going bone-dry. His injured arm stay tucked to his chest, it holding some important articles that were leftover from the larger bag that he had had to leave behind him. He was mostly carrying medical supplies, the knife from his emergency pack, and food but nothing else was in those pouches. The weight was somewhat significant enough to put some pain back into his waist but it was no less reassuring since he had a weapon.

_But then again, I can't use a bow can I? _

He stopped at a corner as another more imposing Titan tromped on over with a drunkard's sway in its step. As it galloped away Armin could not help but feel like these Titans were in particular different from rest of the majority he and Annie had encountered. They were noticeably faster in terms of sprinting and they seemed to be more dedicated in getting to Annie. He hoped that she was alright in the water.

_I need to note this: These Titans are not on par with Aberrant standards and they are different. I wonder how?_

He didn't dwell on it long; he was soon marching over to the shopping district and was bypassing every facility from between here and to the warehouse as fast and as discreetly as he could. He was not so callous as to not stop and look around before making a large crossing that involved being in open street for more than a couple of precious seconds, but he was getting a little rash and winded. His waist began that tell-tale throb and his head started to cloud with dull pain. He had to get the facility fast.

He had too.

Unfortunately for the suddenly careless Armin, he had turned a corner and forgotten to look down as well, tripping over a simple lump of mush that had left him sprawled across the cobbled path and flinging his arrows all over the place. He squawked in alarm much like a frightened bird and bit his tongue as he descended, his sight flashing in and out for only milliseconds as a rancid cloud of rot followed the incident. He was senseless on the ground for only a second before his eye widened at the recognition of the foul odor, the coppery tang of blood in his mouth already forgotten.

He looked over his shoulder and gasped like a fish out of water when he saw the half-eaten lower trunk of a dead man sitting in a pool of old excreta underneath his legs.

"Holy gods!"

Armin curled his legs and flopped off the deteriorated mound of nearly nude flesh and fought a choked sob that had tried to claw its way out of his drying throat. His broken arm was acting up again as a result of the fall but he didn't even notice as he watched the old carcass like it was going to pop to life and do a jig. His heart thudded horribly loudly in his ears, but he managed to man up and began scooping up the bundle of arrows, fighting the growing fire of pain lancing its way back into his body. Sadly for Armin, the accident was nothing compared to what was going to happen to him in less than a second.

**Thud**_._

Armin snapped his attention away from the pile of human remains and his ministrations, feeling warm air envelop him almost entirely. It was a vivid contrast compared to the brisk autumn air and its presence was the only warning he had about what was looming right behind him with its gaping maw wide open.

_Oh fuck me._

He yelped and and launched himself off the ground just a another small-sized Titan snapped its teeth into where he used to be a precious split-second before. It had bit into nothing but open air, but Armin didn't wait for the unwelcomed interloper to recover. He was already high-tailing it all the way to the center complex without a beat and he had forgotten his fatigue while doing so. The 4-meter wrinkled its droopy face into vague frustration and rumbled deeply in its throat: It wasn't a growl, but it was the creature's way of announcing its loss of prey to the world.

Once it started to move again, Armin was around the corner and gone on to the next street, leaving the boorish monster behind to choke on his dust. He knew it will be after him and gaining by the time he managed to get to the last quarter of the way there but he will still have the advantage of hiding if he really needed it. He had anticipated that some Titans would not opt to go after Annie but this was still a disaster he had hoped would never happen. He wouldn't be able to keep this lead for long.

His arm squeezing the remaining shafts against his chest, Armin was now making a final dash for the steel and stone structure ahead; his indiscretion bringing new followers into step behind him. He knew it by the thunderous quake of several pairs of deformed appendages sending the reverberations at him. The majority was 7-meters and smaller, but they were no less quick; if anything faster than the norm. He didn't look back to confirm the number of foes chasing him because he was too afraid to know it and lose the little bit of power he got from his adrenaline rush.

He could see the iron door ahead, and it looked unlocked. Sending a prayer to anyone in the heavens who will listen, Armin panted and started to lose his speed but was more than happy to finally get to it, his legs a quaking mess about to give out from beneath him. He had to work around the fact that both his hands were occupied but the shifting of the arrows into his armpit helped as he was able to jiggle the knob next with enough force to rattle the entire door.

It was locked from the inside.

_FUCK!_

"Oh for Maria's ever loving-!" He began banging on the steel abomination next, "Annie! Are you in there?!"

Hearing the Titans rushing to get to him from some heart-attack inducing distance away, he didn't wait for the answer. He turned and was just about to bolt again until the door was heard snapping open. An unseen hand had snagged his Scout's coat and yanked him inside, but it had been so fast that Armin was screeching bloody murder in fright and surprise. The door slammed shut and he was banged against it, causing for white spots to flicker into his vision. A loud clicking was heard next as a sign that the door was now sealed firmly shut afterward, but his raging pulse didn't settle despite of. On reflex, he had taken one of the arrows he had been holding and dropped the others, rotating his body past its current limit in an manic attempt to liberate himself of his rescuer slash persecutor.

But the tip was met with thin, muscled flesh that was many sizes too small to be a Titan's.

"Ouch," Annie groaned while still sounding both miraculously pained and yet calmly taut.

"...Oh Wall Gods Annie!" Coming down from his adrenaline-induced high he had slumped backward and sighed in relief. He was so happy that it wasn't a Titan that he was about to hug her, but he didn't follow-up. Although, he did dip his head in apology as he withdrew his hand from the arrow's shaft, never feeling as truly regretful of anything else as he did now.

"Sorry..." he was still trembling. "I-I didn't..."

"That hurt almost as much as nearly being frozen to death out there. Are you trying to get rid of me on purpose?" She had asked with her voice bordering both true and terrible anger and stiff aggravation. She had managed to yank the arrow out and blood started to stain her already dirt-caked hoodie, but she had seemed to have not cared about it at all. The girl was shivering tremulously as if to demonstrate her point.

"No! No no, I'm not trying to do that. I'd never try to harm or kill you, Annie. Ever!"

"I ponder the credibility of those words, especially since the Titans out there were trying to _work together to get at me_!" She had spat acidly at the end. She returned the used arrow to the previous offender, her nerves frazzled and squaring her shoulders. "They had self-awareness and smarts Arlert! Do you realize how fucking _horrifying _that was?"

Her personal walls were back up and fortified to the teeth again: trying to absolve her insecurities is going to be a grandiose chore that he will have to undertake all over again. However, it was the mention of those possibly intelligent Titans that had put his nerves on ice.

"They tried to do _what?_"

The two were left idle for only a second until the locked door behind them started to make shake and ring with noise. A banging from the determined Titans outside bent the reinforced steel but it held incredibly and luckily. However, it wouldn't be long before it gave and the horrors managed to get in, if only the smaller of the lot. Unnerved, both teens proceeded to leave the vicinity, the boy retrieving his almost completely forgotten load of arrows and stumbling over to Annie's side. His wounds were pulsing but he didn't care; trying to get to the upper levels was the fist priority, as well as search for some very much needed gear.

* * *

As he placed the arrow back into the quiver, not bothering with cleaning the mess still stuck to its end he noticed that the warrior in front of him was stopping to sniff the stale atmosphere. She hadn't lost the surly tone as she said next, "Armin, I know we are in a dead town and all, but where is that horrible smell coming from? I didn't see any remains when I first came in here."

Her back was turned, so he took the opportunity to pause and take a sniff. There was indeed a decomposing scent hanging around the air and it lingered persistently despite there being no body present within the dim room. When he took another few steps to try and make out where is it that it was originating from he realized with increasing confusion that it was following him wherever he stepped. Sniffing again, he fought the urge to gag and almost doubled over at the acrid intensity of the scent.

_Oh sweet Wall Maria that smell is coming from me!_

He had said nothing to her inquiry as he did his best to give the girl some space. It was not just for the benefit of avoiding the risk of infuriating her further but it was also to save himself the humiliation of explaining that he was the source of the dead man's aroma. His falling onto the body outside had caused for this to occur; the corpse having aged and sitting in a lake of dried fluid for days on end had made it go rancid. What's worse was that the stains stuck to the boy's pants ever since he fell and it was a wonder Annie hadn't looked down to see the evidence caked on him. It was glued to his only and beyond-all-hopes-of-cleaning pair of pants. He also had gone days without a bath on top of that and it probably made the smell worse, so he was reluctant to get near the girl at all knowing this.

He wondered if his life could get any worse.

"Uh... Dunno," He had unsuredly mumbled. "But can we just look for the supplies and get out of here before that door is breached? I don't want to be stuck in here until tomorrow if its not necessary."

Annie harrumphed in answer. She was just agreeing with him because it was true but it didn't have to be friendly, "I saw some crates over by the lift at the base of the stairs. It may have what we need."

"Finally."

The pair glided over to the numerous piles of wood and metal, the skylight above being the only way that they can see in here. No torches or lights or anything of the like was seen around but they didn't intend on staying long enough to look for them. The metal door was screeching and ready to surrender to the Titans' wrath soon enough; but it would take another few minutes. The maker of that particular door had obviously thought ahead towards the possibility of a Titan attack in the future when he made it.

Armin and his female friend had reached the surplus and she had produced a crowbar from a table nearby, going to work to prying the containers open and letting the lad to his own devises from here. Annie had gone over to the next box and tore that open too as he searched his crate for any maneuvering gear. There was none yet, but it had a load of brand new and unused rifles inside. The sound of grating metal on metal sounded loudly in their ears as the boy sifted through their cash. Across the entire floor the racket of where the Titans outside were trying to get in was barely an octave higher than their activity.

"I wonder," Annie grumbled after the pause, thinking loudly to herself.

"Wonder what?" Armin had asked. She was busy with inspecting the cargo inside a smaller box as he looked up to observe her, his movements stinted.

She didn't elaborate; she merely cut to the point again and asked, "What was in your crate?"

Miffed, Armin shrugged off the act of her dodging any of his questions again, responding in kind with no feeling whatsoever present in his voice.

"Rifles here. Yours?"

"Same."

Annie moved from the crate and picked up the crow bar again and selected another random wooden box, her stare the familiar look of boredom as per usual. It was as if she had forgotten about their quarrel about the plan earlier. Armin watched as she went to work tearing a new crate open and was halfway through it until an alarmingly loud _BANG _resonated from the far side of the ware-house. Annie had stopped and landed her somewhat widened gaze onto the door, which was half-way broken and ready to fall in from its hinges.

"Armin."

"Y-Yes?" He had stuttered, his heart rate jumping all over the place from both the noise and the observation of the only other exit on this floor other than the back.

"Is that door small enough to admit three meter Titans?" Annie had inquired with a an airily flat tone that hid her overall growing concern.

When she saw him rattle his skull furiously in answer, she picked up from where she left off with renewed vigor, fighting to get the crate cracked even an increment. She had managed to glimpse the contents inside and tried harder, her muscles straining to fight whatever was holding the infernal thing together. It was as if the box had been braced with something other than nails that was meant to keep people out of it.

Armin saw her trouble and walked over, knowing that what he was going to do will be sore later. Lifting his leg up he had told her "Watch your hands" as her only warning to move and brought it back down onto the end of the metal bar, putting all of his weight behind it. The crate shook with the addition force but it had at least helped the girl with the job; the box was open and the items within can be accessed.

"Not bad," Annie admitted. "I could have swore that this thing was braced with steel."

"Bloody Black fucking Iron that hurt!" He had hissed as he shook out the sting in his foot. "I think that thing _was _reinforced with something, if it isn't steel at least! Is there gear in there by the way or did I just fracture my toe for nothing?"

Annie had found an obscene time to giggle at the comment, her shoulders giving a slight roll that betrayed the motion. The humor passed though, as fleeting as it was, leaving the pair to lean over and inspect what was inside. Armin had forgotten his pain at that second and was belated to see the over-large contraptions inside as maneuvering gear, Annie tugging some of her hair behind her ear and sighing softly. Smiling lightly to themselves, overwhelmingly relieved to see the clunking pieces of Titan-slaying equipment, Annie and Armin had in their excitement bent over to reach the gear and pull them out piece by piece. Although Armin was still in clear pain over his slowly-healing injuries, he was undeterred as he reached in, his eagerness making him forget the dangers around them for the moment.

After laying them onto the floor and noticing that the gas canisters were empty, Annie had looked on and made this clear to the boy with some withering dread. He shook it off and said, "There has to be a refuel station in another level somewhere. If this place is so close to Trost, I would think the soldiers that would have been stationed here would've had some readily accessible gas at their disposal. What I'm worried about is finding a new set of harnesses so we can even don the gear at all. Our last set snapped days ago if you recall."

"You're right," she had acknowledged. "But if this is true, then surely there is another container here with the belts?"

"I don't know about that," he had added with some of the same dread his female partner had felt earlier. "All we can do now is find the box holding the belts, but we would have to be quick about it..."

The soldier and warrior spied the unrecognizable ruin that had been the door at the far other side of the room. Swallowing their growing uneasiness Armin had continued, "You'll have to be the one that has to find the harnesses since you have the strength to pry these crates open. I'll have to look for the refuel station and do what what I can about the gas canisters."

"Can you even use the gear in your condition?" She had hurriedly threw at him, her crystal eyes flashing.

"I'm not sure to be honest with you, but I'll have to try anyway. Its not like I have a choice in the matter. We still need to get to the wall no matter what," He had stated with absolute certainty.

An agreement reached, they went right to work without any argument, separating from the other so they can find the things that they needed in order to escape. Armin had silently hoped that their efforts will be rewarded soon enough, with a safe passage out of the hell hole that this land has become. He did wonder of the so many consequences stuck to it as well, but the whole of this trip had been one risk after another.

What was one more?


	6. Worth

_I'm working on another Attack on Titan fanfic you all should know about; keep an out for those who are Eren/Mika lovers! And... Its going to be rated mature for a solid, rocky reason. You'll see what I mean soon enough._

_I like to say thank you to a bunch of you for the beautiful and heart-warming reviews that made me feel inspired. I thank you all for the love you made me feel and I want to do good by returning it in some way as I write this. Also, a shout out to the author out there who has given me sagely advice and improved my capabilities even if a little. Please keep this up. __Thank you so very much._

_Oh and I'm looking for a beta for future SNK fanfics as well as this one; preferably one that has some experience with it since I'm a noob at writing long-ass stories with too much detail. I would like to post this on tumblr too at some point. I just don't know how!_

_Spoiler alert; there will be a LOT of fighting ahead in the next chapters after this one, so please expect some gore- related events and a change in rating. There will be sweet and more fluff in the time after (due to the nature of a life and death kind of bonding typically), but you'll have to be patient! You will be rewarded. :)_

_Chapter 1 is revised and a few hundred words longer._

_I also apologize for the depressing air this one will give off. Please tell me what you think at the end. What Armin is going through is called a re-laspe. Look it up if you're confused._

_As usual, read on my fellow fandom mates._

* * *

~000~

Armin was having a hard time with the empty canisters; hulling them over to the station in the lowest level of the facility on his own had been next to impossible due to his extensive injuries.

However, there had been a lift like the one in the Trost head-quarters lying dead-center in the room, and it helped that a certain girl had already done the majority of the work. The stairs was not mandatory since he employed the use of the lift in order to shuttle the tanks. Rolling the dolly along partway for him until setting it onto the middle of the platform, Annie had did more than earn her keep of the day's work as it is and Armin could not help but loathe himself for his inability. She had said nothing to elaborate on this of course, offering to lower him down but added that she can do no more for now until the harnesses were located. After helping him to the room below, she had brought the lift back to its original position on ground level to keep the Titans from getting to him. She had admonished for him to be more careful and that she'll be down there to rendevous with him after she finds what they need.

Annie's well-being though was in question since she had no appropriately functioning gear yet and the door above was bound to break in the moments to come. He knew that the only way to he can help her now is by filling a pair of tanks and getting them to her as fast as possible, but she would need to find some belts so she may even don them at all.

Fumbling with the hose nozzles, he had seated himself in front of the station and settled for trying to use his broken arm to hold the can as he filled it. It didn't help that he was still fighting off wretched pain coursing through his body like liquid fire. It had resulted from the panic attack he was having earlier from when he had first tried to get into the warehouse. He also had stumbled around down here in complete darkness until he got his striker out and lit the few torches in the room when he first arrived. By the time he had managed to sit himself in front of the station, he had stubbed his toe numerous times on the heaps of discarded items strewn across the bare floor. Thankfully, all of the incurred pain was gradually fading off due to the medication he had taken. He was able to retain his hold on concentration longer and the urge to pass out was uncommon; it had made his life easier as well as Annie's.

_But still, I have been doing nothing but deliberately putting her in danger throughout the time we have spent in this great expanse of abandoned land. It was no wonder Annie was so angry about it when she found me. I wouldn't put it past her to start hating me more after this. How do I make up for it?_

He twisted the nozzle and cut off the air-flow, finally done with the first tank and moving on to the other. He had to bend down to get it and it caused for his waist to pulse warningly but he had learned to ignore it for the most part. Lending the female shifter his aid was far more important to him than he had initially realized. In a way, he had concluded that the two _needed _ each other in order to survive out here, let alone venture into Maria's forsaken lands. Truth be told, he needed her more than she actually needed him and it was a dismal thought that brought his spirits to low that he wasn't unfamiliar with.

As soon as he finished with the second canister he was onto the third, wondering if he can indeed use his own working set of maneuvering gear in order to escape without making Annie's life any harder. They could just make a break for the next wall without having to waste a lick of gas, but it was the act of transforming that will surely attract more of the unusual Titans in this town towards themselves. It shouldn't be so bad though if the wall was only a league or less away, and it might be a more intelligent decision since they cannot carry no more than four canisters at once. Perhaps running for it and resting at the top would have to do, but the act of asking Annie to do anything more was a burdening idea on his behalf.

Just then, the door on the ground level above had come down with a furious bang that made him jump out of his skin. Shaken to the point of dropping his remaining tankard and leaving it to shoot across the room, he had flinched and leapt up from his seat while darting nervous glances all around. On reflex he had ended up looking at the only two ways to get in here: The entrance to the stairway was still closed but it was unlocked, and the lift was secured and turned off for good measure.

"Dammit!"

Skittish as ever, Armin jogged over to the hissing gas can and closed off the tap, sputtering about being a coward under his breath. He brought it back over to the station and seated himself once again, trying his best to fill it as fast as it will allow. His hand wouldn't stop rattling for a whole precious minute before he reclaimed his calm and alligned the gasket correctly to the tap. Finally finishing the chore two minutes later, he had retrieved the two pairs of fuel and placed them next to the bench he had been resting on. He left them there whilst he crossed the room towards the stair way, wondering if Annie had finished her work and was coming to meet with him.

He was about to open the door himself but ended up jumping again when the knob automatically turned and revealed Annie standing behind it. She looked a little winded but unharmed, and she was also already wearing her own gear and carrying a spare set of equipment for the boy as well.

"Finished?" She said in her typical monotone. She eyed him carefully and noticed how tense he was.

He shuffled underneath her scrutiny. "Yeah. I see you were successful in finding the harnesses though," He had added with a faint smile that didn't reach his eye. He was relieved in seeing her both alright and holding the goods and that counted as far as he was concerned. "The Titans came in didn't they?"

She nodded, her hair falling in front of her right eye. "There was only four of them that did, but they were incredibly swift. I'd recommend that we get to higher ground before they find us down here. Put this on and I'll help you with the equipment."

"Alright."

Doing as she instructed, he went to work to putting the harness on, although Armin was having an insanely hard time doing so. Annie was about to render him her aid but he had told her no quite firmly; he didn't want to rely on her anymore if he could help it. It was bad enough that he would have to ask her to transform again in the time to come so getting her to help now was just bothering him.

The girl had put out her lower lip and wondered if she should just help him in order to speed things along but she had noted the serious look on his face at that moment. She decided for the better that she will only help if it was truly needed. On his own, Armin had managed to harness himself in an one-handed way and went to equip his maneuvering gear, but that involved some muscle work that will put a little strain back into his infirmities.

This was were he tolerated Annie's assistance; she had to perform the act of bending over to help him don the over-sized sheathes holding the blades while Armin went to securing the links behind it. As Annie helped with the task her tiny body shook just enough to catch his attention; he hadn't noticed that she was still freezing until now. He felt terrible for his negligence right after seeing her tremble.

"Annie."

"Hmm?"

"You're cold," the despondent tone betrayed that as a solid statement, leaving no room to either argue nor deny it. She must have been freezing the whole time that they had spent in here and he hadn't noticed sooner.

Now he felt like shit.

Annie though had merely shrugged this off, her gesture lazy and her expression as bored as ever. "Its fine. Once I transform again when we get to the roof, the heat will warm me up."

_So she had already thought that far ahead..._

After a minute inspecting him, Annie seemed to nod at something and asked, "Does the harness bother your ribs at all? I know they're still fractured."

He hadn't thought about that until now. He had lifted his right hand and probed at some spots where the bruising was located, but he felt largely fine. Believing it had something to do with the meds, he told her his current status and watched as she went to head into the hallway going back to the surface. A lump grew in his throat he could not help but croak out, "Annie" again and with more feeling than he wanted to betray. He paused and his face dusted itself with a brighter color after this, his voice having wobbled when he obtained her attention. It had stopped her just as she almost reached the stair door.

"What now? Can't you shut it and save it?" She looked at him fully as she said this. It was a warning sign that he was grating on her nerves again, and she wants nothing more than to hurry along in escaping as soon as they can. Wasting time now was costly and this he can plainly see.

Armin had dolefully input, "I'm sorry," at this. He could see her haste and it was making him feel even worse. "You're absolutely right; we should just go while the Titans are few in number. Chances are that the larger are going to catch on soon enough about the exits in the upper levels if the smaller had already figured out the doors."

He felt silly and mortified even though he hadn't really embarrassed himself. Saying anything now about his inability was just bad timing on his part and he should just heed her for the time being. He hadn't been entirely sure of how he could ever make up for his listlessness seeing how he'll never have the courage to act on occasion. Armin thought he had kicked this hesitating habit back after the initial fall of Trost but apparently it had returned with new vigor. Annie's constant ability to adapt had left him feeling less than inadequate as of late.

A long time ago, he had already accepted the grim impossibility of finding someone to spend his worthless life with, all because of his lacking of initiative and sense of self-worth. Add to that his strange habits, weak body, and rapt fascination of the unknown and taboo. He had never been a good working man and he could never settle himself down with with the way he is. Armin couldn't help feeling awkward and meek for it and this has never truly been mollified.

Eren and Mikasa had already made some redeeming aspects clear to him in a gentler manner as to try to help him overlook the lesser, but what else can one expect from childhood friends? They loved him as he was and he couldn't have been more honered, but it simply wasn't enough. Here he was, still stuck within the quagmire of his own making and hating everything about himself that made him useless and enervative. Not to mention alone for the most part, with the Ice Queen herself of the 104th Trainees Division, whose boundless strength was the only thing keeping them alive right now.

It wasn't that she was a female doing a man's work that bothered him: it had never been that way considering Mikasa in some situations back then. It was just that he had been falling behind constantly and far more often then usual that grated on his nerves. He hadn't helped her _once _and their struggle for the past week and it was finally starting to wear him down. This sensation of self-doubt had only worsened in recent time when he reflected on all the work Annie had been putting forth. She had been all the strength that they needed and her tenacity to survive hadn't required the aid of his planning. Couple that with him being her prisoner of all things and she reminded him without saying anything about how useless he was whenever she applied herself to _his _personal needs.

Not that was a truly laughable circumstance.

_I may have offered plans and ideas to my superiors before and it may have saved some people in a way, but I'm still the leaden weight that is tied and dragged around even by people as strong as Annie. She doesn't need my intelligence to help her out; she's been doing fine on her own. _

_I'm a waste of space. Nothing has really changed since I was a kid._

The one thing that had remained unscathed throughout his trials was the whole circumstance of being a powerless whelp attached to her hip. It was like this back when he still lived in Shiganshina, and now with his current condition the action was being repeated. Really, what was the point of going on like this if he was just going to be a burden? He should've died earlier when the Ape attacked him. It beats being a thorn in his companion's side.

How many times can he apologize for just his presence alone?

* * *

~000~

Annie could almost tangibly feel the remorse coming off the boy nearby, even though she had already made it to the door. She turned and blinked at him, lifting her head to meet his eye more levelly but he didn't attempt to do the same. With the way he looked right now, she was sure that he hadn't noticed or felt her staring at him. He hadn't budged at all ever since he agreed with her about leaving the place.

She was mildly confused for a second before her rationality sunk in. Facing him more, she hadn't realized until now that he was out of it and he was having trouble concentrating on anything. Maintaining mission directive was the furthest thing from his mind right now and that will hurt them inevitably if she doesn't do anything to alleviate him of the mindset.

She stated tonelessly, "Armin, you're doing it again," to draw him from his thoughts.

He paused, his eye dark and without that usual shine it normally exhibited whenever she spoke to him without being hostile. It was slightly off-putting.

"Eh?"

"You're," she started slowly at first, as if he was some kind of retarded animal. "-Doing it again."

Armin wrinkled his nose, sensing the insult there but choosing not to say anything about it. He merely removed his eye from the floor just to indirectly look at her through his dirty and uneven fringe. He couldn't even remember when he had first started thinking that he was so much lower than dirt.

She sighed and walked back over, her gear clinking loudly against the stone walls. When she paused in front of him, she had to look up into his face almost a whole head's difference from where her eyes were. If she hadn't been surrounded by taller individuals her whole life, add to that Titans ironically enough, plus Bertholdt and Reiner then she would have thought it odd since this was Armin after all. He had always been the smaller of his companions but was larger in stature to her. She wondered if Armin had actually noticed how much bigger he had gotten. Once again, she was reminded that everyone around her back behind the walls had grown in even slight increments and strength and endured the worst of the worst in the time she had spent being catatonic. Armin was no exception to that.

Putting that intrusive though aside, she focused on trying to get the boy's attention drawn to herself, although her own feelings were starting to come forward again. She fought them down before she could open her mouth and say something embarrassing.

_This is really annoying. Why am I like this all of a sudden?_

"Armin."

Her voice wasn't without inflection this time. She did feel for the boy in a way that was normally understood as empathy, but it was an alien emotion to her and she wasn't quite sure of what she should be feeling towards him at all ever since _then_. She was uncomfortable with him like this alone, add to that her unresolved mess of holes that had wormed into her personality ever since the Stohess incident. Her emotions were nothing short of an nuisance for someone of her normally composed exterior.

"You're telling yourself that you're a useless sack of shit, aren't you?" She entreated.

His expression told her all that she needed to know. He didn't realize he was being so transparent until she had said something about it.

"I can tell," she had informed him upon seeing his change in facial expression. She kept her stare fixated onto his own remaining eye as she beat the urge to look away. His rueful state was getting contagious. "I may not know you as well as Mikasa and Eren, but you're making it easy for me to read you lately. You used to be more guarded than that; I wonder what happened to change that."

Armin's lip curled downward at the corner, his eye lid furrowed as if he was annoyed at something. His stare drifted back to the floor steadily after a passing thought came to mind that Annie still couldn't figure out. His dim orb was bereft of any emotion and it was reminiscent of his despair back in Trost when he had believed Eren to be dead.

She started to open her mouth to say something but hesitated then. She was not used to being the one to give anybody the pep talk before, but saying what's on her mind is all she could do. She was used to being frank but finding the words for a nearly broken spirit like Armin was more than just hard. It was just out of her character.

_Mina would know what to say though, wouldn't she? She was acquainted with Armin at some point. I didn't normally hang around people who pussy-footed around for a reason but here I am._

_Why is this?_

Pushing the memory of the long-dead girl back where it wouldn't be so painful or distracting, she rummaged through the dusty spaces of her psyche that she hardly touched whenever it came to socializing. She spouted without thinking, "Whatever caused for you to be this constipated needs to stop," and felt ridiculous right after she said it. Her voice was a softer lilt than what she was used to, and it surprised her alongside her choice in wording. She puzzled over it and reprimanded herself and added a slightly harder edge before continuing.

"You seemed so determined to frustrate me initially, when we left the previous wall," she started with some doubt. "It was as if you were trying to keep me from making the wrong decision about what we needed to do at the time. However," she paused for the second to collect her thoughts. "Contrary to that, you tried to instigate me to kill you. The hint I was getting, especially now, is that you're starting to care less for your own life."

The two stood there staring at each other for a second, Annie letting her words sink in with him before she grumbled, "Last I checked, I thought you said you were unlike Jaeger. You told me that you'd never let yourself die if you could help it, especially given the cause. Why the new death wish, Armin? It's depressing."

_And its not you._

He closed his eye in a way the was meant to conceal something that had flashed before she can discern what it was. He had taken a whole moment to answer, as if he had carefully selected what he should say before-hand. Keeping the emotion out of his voice, he had told her, "The death wish came about because I didn't want to be dragged around like this anymore, Annie. I'd swore to myself that I'd rather die than be a burden, even to someone like you. I _hate _being the weak one to slow the others down, simply put and yet it keeps happening despite my efforts."

The way he said that made her almost flinch. He must have felt strongly of the notion of playing the useless role more than she realized.

"I didn't care who or what it was I ended up being stuck with after all that has happened," His glassy stare had dazedly settled itself in a place she couldn't see, although he was technically still staring at her. "I just never wanted to be the person everyone ended up protecting again. Its hurts me," his hand went to his chest as he said the last bit.

"Recently, you've been hulling me all around the place and taking care of me ever since we left Sina's borders, feeding me and helping me along in my recovery. I thought for sure that I have gotten past that dependency in my life after Trost, but here I am again," he shrugged. "My 'smart-ass' ideas nearly leave you dead-"

_That isn't untrue..._

"-And leave me skeptical of my own mental abilities at this point. Things have been taking a real turn for the worse ever since you froze yourself," Annie shuffled her shoulders, remembering the feeling of isolation and despair during that time. She was also still wearing a wet set of clothes and gave a slight shudder of her shoulders.

Armin had noticed but went on with the purpose of getting all of his concerns out there to sate her curiosity before he lost the nerve. Annie listened well and with rapt attention strangely despite her fidgeting. He decided to cut the details.

"Time passed," his eye grew darker. "We learned about each other, chased each other out into the pastures of Maria's wastes; turning and burning what was left of our camaraderie. I spectated in large part, my role having impacted nothing as Eren showed us what he was truly capable of. We learned about Christa... Historia I mean, and what she was, then we played body doubles after that," Armin paused to shiver so badly at the memory that the female shifter thought he was as cold like she was for a second. "-And we lured out the face of our truer enemies in the following operations; not all of them but some.

"You were curious about what we did, and yet that's only scratching the surface. You wanna know what happened after all that still?" When she didn't answer, he went on, unperturbed, "Eren and Historia disappeared, and we went to save them. It was a wonder that some people didn't have to sully their hands in such an outlandish form of crime sooner, but I can't say I was lucky."

At his pause, Annie felt something writhe in her stomach. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear anymore.

"...What do you mean?" She inquired despite her inner protest.

Armin's face twitched once, his trepidation increasing. A second later, a lone tear had carved a new, clean track down his dirty face. It was a scene that reminded Annie of a time she had long put behind her as a child in training. A loss of innocence that a person was forced to shed in their coming of age, with the additional weight of the broken will of a soldier having gone through a life-time's worth of hell. It was something she wanted to never recall.

Armin wiped it away, smearing the grime plastered to his skin in the process. He didn't give her a direct answer right away; it was a pause that instilled the claws of uncertainty into Annie's guts. He stared into the filth on his hand as if it was the blood of his first fallen prey; Annie knew that stony look.

_I shouldn't have asked._

He finally uttered after a moment of trying to reclaim his voice, "...How?"

"How what?"

"How can you, Mikasa, and Eren...?" He quit then, recalling something else. "Oh. Right. I had wondered for so long now that I had forgotten. How is it that you can ki- er, _butcher_..." He amended much to Annie's horror and shame. "-So many people all for the sake and pursuit of your own survival? I can't even stomach killing _one person _for any kind of required mission, let alone many unnamed dozens."

_He did what?_

Armin was recovering quicker than she had expected despite the brevity of his words. His sorrow was drying away and his expression bespoke of his fatigue. "I'm sorry Annie. I digress."

_Why are you apologizing...?_

Annie's tightly fisted hold on her feelings was caving and her stare was far more intense than she would've realized before she could stop herself. She had always imagined Armin was a light-weight who could never do certain things such as directly hurt someone; but this year, he had surpassed all of her expectations of him. In ways that sickened and hurt her beyond near understanding. The list going on as follows: Handing her over to Smith, lying to her face, luring her to a trap deliberately, losing his grip with sanity that she only got hinted to her days ago; and now he _killed _somebody? The bookworm facade had long since deteriorated before, but the nasty image of a blood-stained, desperate and probably sick soldier now was just appalling.

That just wasn't Armin.

"You asked why I wished for death when you awoke. I'm sorry you were received with such a long-winded and inconcise answer. It's really because I'm still burdened with the idea of dragging you down, as well as the other thing... Not one day has gone by that I haven't forgotten what I have done to not only that person I had shot but the numerous others I've hurt as a brutal result of my plotting with Erwin." He had said with more calm than she was comfortable with. His sorrow had been more shallow than she had thought.

He stopped, his lip quirked at the corner in a nearly undetectable way had she not known him. His eye radiated a light she has never before seen as he said, his voice as flat as paper, "I couldn't help thinking sometimes after that last day we talked if I had been given the same power as you did Annie. I would've frozen myself too if it meant I couldn't do no more harm. Although, you did do it out of a different reason, huh?"

_Who are you? I thought you were distraught a second ago._

She suddenly felt cross and maybe even intimidated by his sudden absence of regret. Annie had seized him by the chin and forced him to lock his depressing gaze onto her. She wasn't one to touch anyone out of her own volition unless it was out of medical necessity, but with the way Armin was acting right now, she needed to keep his attention on her and shake the rolling uneasiness she had of him. His mood was switching erratically in front of and it frightened her.

Remembering the origin of her companion's sadness, she let her tone grow taut. "You said yourself that you value your own life and you wouldn't be so stupid as to waste it as that suicidal idiot would. Unless you knew what is it that you're were sacrificing yourself for, you wouldn't die so recklessly. I respected that quality of you more than anything else, Armin, but I didn't see that when you forced me to decide what I needed to do days ago," she hurriedly threw at him. "The other thing I admired was your devotion to your fellow kinsman in the corps. However, I didn't see that humbled sense of human morality in you either for that matter. Its like its evaporated."

Armin blinked again as a response, and it somewhat left Annie to wonder if he was even listening at all. She tightened her hold on his mandible and dug her nails into it. He winced and focused on her more squarely.

She took another breath, her teeth starting to show, "I don't know what's gotten into you to make you feel like this, but you need to stop it. I don't know who you are anymore and we'll be killed out here before we can even get halfway to Shiganshina just because you're acting so strangely. It affects the overall picture of what we're doing and it impairs judgement, putting our lives effectively at stake."

She waited until he nodded at her before she went on, her eyes smoldering cinders in place of where icy indifference used to be. "We don't have the time or the luxury to sit around feeling like shit just yet. You're smarter than that, so stop acting so weak. We need to concentrate on getting to the wall right now instead of sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves. Priority matters, remember?"

Annie had her answer when she saw him nod against her grip.

"Good," She released her hold on his jaw and glared into his face. "Man up. I know you have guts, so act like it, but don't lose anymore of yourself doing so. Its not quite like you." She gave him a lingering look before stomping over to the door, her irritation waning.

A _chuckle _made her freeze.

"'Mankind cannot hope to win against monsters unless they have the willingness to throw aside their own humanity,'" He had muttered just audibly enough for her to hear. "I didn't know my own words could bite me in the ass until now, and it took me this long to realize it? Months later too... I'm really off my game aren't I?"

Now she was really frightened.

Remembering his sardonic air back in the mess of his short laughter this morning and when he had invoked her ire after her awakening, she could not help but feel that this calm of his was barely more than just fragile. Sure his concern for her was genuine as well as his sense of purpose to people, but he had undoubtedly altered in his mind. It had not been so long ago that he was depressed by his position in their little duo but she knew now that he was in fact upsetted by more than just his helplessness. The baggage of his endeavors were catching up to him while he mentally weak right now; this weakness inhibited upon by his regret of simply not being able help to her more.

All because of a minor relapse.

She glanced over her shoulder at him and his hooded expression, his eye no longer a dark hole in his skull. His shoulder gave a final roll as if shaking off some sort of misplaced humor.

In a way, he was.

_How unstable is he? He acts like Armin some days and literally the next second later he's someone else. What the actual fuck?_

"Get over here and stay with me," She snapped. "Those Titans are bound to ambush us once we try to leave."

"Yes ma'am."

That made Annie stop for a second to shudder. "And don't use 'ma'am' with me Arlert. It doesn't sit right with me."

"Alright," he tried.

"That's better."

She put her hand on the knob and waited until Armin was sitting right behind her with his free hand firmly glued to his side, his fist balling up. Annie didn't comment but she knew he needed some time to mull over her words and recover to who he was but he would have to do so at a later interval. Bracing herself, she ordered him to steel himself and to follow her lead upon reentry onto the ground floor. She listened first before she started to crack open the door, being sure to look before leaping. Despite the knot in her gut, her mind was still muddled with the concern she felt for her flaxon-haired ally standing beside her. She hoped that this conversation will be nothing but a long-forgotten memory before long.

_What happened to you... Armin? Have you really lost your sense of Humanity or am I being lied too? I didn't know you were really capable of doing this._

_I don't like it at all._

* * *

~000~

The Titans were still lumbering ignorantly about, their slack-jawed faces aimlessly taking in the details of the room but finding no quarry to pursue. They remained unawares of the pair standing to the far west side of the ware-house, the door ever so _barely _cracked a bit to allow the two to see what their fated enemies were doing. Annie and Armin eye-balled the four stalking the room with sinking sensations that tied their dread together, keeping silent as they observed.

Armin had become as expressionless as he can be, his face a mask of calculated intent. His female partner merely regarded the giants in her usual way of sizing up their potential ability to pose as a threat. They continued to sit like that for a few uncounted minutes, watching the giants' pace and weighing their odds of reaching the stairs that wasn't so far away. However, a Titan refused to leave the area leading to the catwalk above, in a manner resembling a sentinel.

Annie almost spat. "I think they've gotten smarter. Fuck."

Armin jolted out of his trance and pursed his lip at the language Annie normally didn't employ. It had an unusual resemblance to Levi's vulgar mannerisms. "You have mentioned that they tried to work together a short while ago. Either I'm just going crazy, or you're just exaggerating. Titans act independantly last time I checked."

_You're already there Arlert. _

She passed him a wary glance, "They were."

"How-?"

Annie's silvery blue stare placed itself back onto the four-meter nosing around the stair way. "The big ones waded in part way and held on to each other to keep from slipping-"

A number of incoherent sputtering noises Armin made stopped Annie before she can even go into any detail. Armin's thinking had screeched to a gut-renching halt and his eye betrayed that surprise to her.

"What?"

"Shush!"

The four-meter parted its lips and turned its head towards their direction. Armin's hand had flown around the holster of his gear on impulse and his breathing had wheezed out in breathy squeaks. Annie had elbowed him hard and stopped him from making anymore accidental movements that was sure to lure the Titan's eye. Holding his larger hand in her own while pulling him in a way that could have ended with him being behind her in the event the Titan should attack, she hissed at him reproachfully. The pair were forced to silence themselves and wait until it redirected its glazed expression onto something else before they relaxed their nerves.

"Stop being such a nervous wreck," she murmured. "You're like a new-born fawn in bear haunted woods."

He narrowed his eye but didn't say anything to that. He regained his brittle calm and muttered, "Sorry. It's just what you just said that..." He was about to go into another rant but he stopped himself. "...I never imagined that the Titans would be doing something as intelligent as this. I wonder why they decided to change their behavior..?"

Annie had a vague idea but she still wasn't all that certain. She was _extremely _reluctant to say it but she knew she had to let Armin know in the case that he can share his ideas on the matter; plus explain in fuller detail his experience with the Ape and specify if the incident may have any correlation to what they were seeing. He had the potential to figure out some things on his own, including the deduction of what could have caused this, so telling him really didn't matter too much. If anything, it could help.

_Its not like I'm going to let him go back to the scouts anyway with this kind of information. Given that he even survives the whole ordeal._

She leaned into him, leaving only an inch of space between her face and his own but she was still watching the brutes hovering about the room with some careful reflection. She whispered, "I think I know why they're acting the way they are. I'm not sure if it's correct, but it could shed some light."

Although the boy was more or less distracted by her close proximity, her words did catch his interest, "You... do?"

She didn't reply immediately. Her lips were a thin slash and her eyes a sullen shadow against her pale complexion, "The Titans didn't develop this capacity to think on their own. Something, if not someone, had merely commanded them to behave in this way and given them the capacity to alter their automaton behavior for a singular purpose."

"Uh-huh..."

Annie merely believed that he was contemplating her words as she went on, "Titans normally contain the inferior ability to learn, but cannot do anything more than that, given that they're not underneath somebody's command. Different types that deviate from the norm can only arise if the one who created them required a certain goal to be...Why are you staring at me like that for?"

His face was almost a brighter color than she had originally thought.

"What now? Its bad enough you were depressed and batshit crazy earlier but embarassed next? What are you; a hormonal girl?"

That clearly woke him from whatever his already far-gone mind had been wallowing in. He wrinkled his nose and stuttered, "-Crazy? ...Its just that you're leaning on me too much is all. It's hurting my left arm since you have me pressed against the wall for one."

She moved and released his sweating hand, having not noticed sooner that he was struggling with pain.

"Next," the timbre in his voice had lowered. "You were invading personal space that didn't involve mending my injuries, so I'd appreciate it if you keep your distance unless its necessary."

"Okay. And?" She had no idea where the feeling of being even remotely offended or abashed came from after that last reason but she pushed it aside.

The flaming color on his face had advently appeared and been a more startingly brilliant shade of rose than Annie ever thought most people were capable of unless they were shifters. At least he was acting like his normal self when he had stuttered, "L-lastly," before the next had become an impossible jumble of mashed up words that she couldn't understand.

"Pardon?"

He let the flushed expression on his face go slightly before he let out a sigh and slouched his tense posture. "Personal space, Annie. Its all I'm saying."

She was still trying to break down what he had furiously muttered under his breath, half listening to his modest exasperation. Armin was such a different person these days and it was really frustrating. She was normally able to accumulate basic data on the people around her but Armin's new traits were taking her off guard on the occasion. It was bad enough he scared her earlier.

_His sanity comes and goes doesn't it?_

Moving on, she resumed her bored look and said, "Did you get any of the bit I was discussing a moment ago?"

He gave a slight nod, his bandaged eye all that could see on his profile. "I did. You were telling me about the Titan's creation I believe."

Annie looked back outside at the mass of deformed and muscled flesh sitting determinedly by the stair way. "Yes. I was just trying to say that I think the Ape may have something to do with this."

The boy reflected on this carefully before asking, "Are you sure?"

Another nod later he was seen spouting curses under his breath. "I should have known after what happened in Ragako and in Stohess."

"What happened there?" Annie thought the name was familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"It's Connie's home town," he had detected her confusion as if he could read her mind. "His entire home got transformed, including his mother."

_Oh gods._

Annie had never cared for the boulder-brained boy, but she did understand the sense of loss.

"Anyway," Armin had stopped her from dwelving too far into the thought. "Didn't you say you had an idea of what we can do here or do I have to think up something unreliable again?"

"No need," she gestured. "I have one already in mind."

"Lay it on me."

Annie fixed her gear to herself, her shoulders tensing and her eyes shimmering like a predator's. "This is going to be quick, Arlert. I hope you can keep up."

Armin wasn't so sure of that to be honest, but whatever Annie had in mind he had believed that she wouldn't being leaving him behind accidentally. If she didn't have a plan that she was positive that he couldn't keep himself paced with than she wouldn't propose it in the first place, right?

Right?

* * *

**NOTE:**

_If you guys were wondering, Armin had been distracted by Annie's boob sitting on his side and hand. He'll never say that aloud to her though. XD_


	7. Titan's Shadow

_I haven't written out a fight/flight sequence in such a long time, so yeah, be lenient with me. The rest of the chapter will be easy-going, but I do mean when I say expect some fighting next! I'm sorry if the scenes and events flow a little fast too... I wanted to get this out to you all asap. On another note, does this fic have a zombie survival apocalypse feel to any of you...? Just curious. _

_Anyway, I will be going back over every chapter after 2 and adjusting everything but not changing the over all story events. Revising everything sucks. :P_

_Oh and I graciously thank EVERY PERSON who has read and reviewed so far! I can't name them all but you are beautiful people with beautiful critiques and beautiful gentleness and I sadly can't respond to all because its confusing for me but still. Your support helps more than you'll ever know._

_Another thing to add; I had a drawing request for a book a client of mine has asked. So, yeah, long updates at times. I'm a drawing artist too part time as a free-lancing artist. :) I was also writing the Eren/Mika fic that will be a multi-chapter installment that I'm still deciding ideas for and detailing as I write this, so yeah long updates. :P_

_**NOTE: Chapters 1 and 2 are revised. Remember to enjoy even if things look bleak. Nothing will be on hiatus. EVER. :)**_

* * *

~000~

Although Armin had not been the most helpful of accomplices to his captor as of late, he knew that whatever he could have come up with, no matter how crude it was for his standards, was better than what _her _idea of an escape plan is. He would be remembering this little incident for a long time; the one time that the infamous Annie Leonhardt didn't think things through.

Said shifter didn't even explain the proposed idea of a plan at all; she just seized the former soldier by his collar (and clawed his skin accidentally by doing so) and dashed out to greet the behemoth waiting for them close by. She brandished a single blade and charged at the creature without so much as any hint of fear or caution, leaving Armin to wonder what had compelled her to become so Eren-like in terms of attack. It was a strange sight, since she was normally more tactful than her former peer and was obviously more intelligent. If she had a follow-up in this straight-forward ploy than it better be good.

The ugly abomination went to snag her and her wheezing companion but she feinted and dodged, leaving the corpulent Titan to fall flat onto its own drooling face. She whirled around with Armin still in her grip and stepped away from the dumb-founded mound of stinking flesh, readying her gear for a launch as she ran towards the now cleared stair way. The noise had alerted the other giants close by however, their jaws gaping and froth flying as they suddenly jerked out of whatever that they had been searching through and sprinted right at the two upon locking their beady eyes on them. Legs almost a blur beneath their thickly muscled bodies, their arms swung in every which way as they raced towards the swiftly bounding prey trying to leap its way up the jutting steps. It was almost like they were _flying _ with the abnormal pace that they were going at. Annie could not help but fumble with curse words under her breath as a result of her surprise and it left Armin to consider if she was the one who had lost her mind.

"_Fuck!_" Armin had swore audibly as he witnessed their incredible and unseen speed. They had only just begun climbing the metal path and yet already they weren't moving fast enough. At this rate, the newly intelligent Titans would be trying to climb up after them. Seeing this horrible image vivdly painted in his mind, Armin had spat to Annie, "What the hell are you-"

The tell-tale pop and whizzing of flying metal was the boy's only warning of bracing himself against the next act of escape.

He gagged just as the girl flew pell-mell into the frigid air, the grappling hook having attached its claws into the ceiling above and not so far away from the sky-light. Having skipped the lowest level of the catwalk and landing onto the next, it shook underneath their combined weight after having lost all the momentum in the leap. Annie retracting her hook and yanked the poor lad to his feet and without a second to spare and surged along the grate with him in tow. Armin felt his fractured arm free itself from its sling while doing so, his breathing in short, ragged, choked puffs that left his ribs screaming of discomfort. Their feet banged clamorously against the only structure that had separated them from the numerous pairs of shining teeth waiting below, their resonating steps a sign that they were now pursuing. One had even taken the liberty of climbing into the trembling catwalk, its heavy brows pinched together in a clear expression that seemed unnervingly human in its fury.

Annie bared her teeth as they began a trek to get closer to the roof, her hair threatening to fall free of her characteristic bun. Never losing her grip on the slightly torn fabric that was Armin's over-sized clothes, she had breathlessly tossed at her flailing companion, "We need to fly if we want to get to the opening above. Can you use your gear at all?"

"Couldn't you have asked me before?!" Armin had roared despite his trouble with his lungs angry protest. He could suddenly taste his own anger and fear on his tongue as if he had actually chugged a glass of it; and it was strange since this hasn't happened before. It made him feel sicker than he did a short while ago downstairs.

"I did and you never gave me a concise answer!" She snapped back, her voice awfully high and frosty.

Armin had to get Annie to let go of his shirt; it was strangulating him and tearing in some places while freeing itself from the hugging tightness of his harness. Infuriated with his already compromising position as an Achilles heel to her, he tore himself from her grip and pounded after her, trying to keep up with her atheletic pace. An adrenaline rush had pushed him forward and allowed him to match her strides surprisingly, but his jarring extremities were reminding him of their injured status. He shot her a sharp look from the side that was meant to be chastising and maybe even accusative, but Annie could hardly care less with death itself tailing so closely behind.

Climbing a small flight of steps, their feet had hardly left the second level of the catwalk when a Titan had decided to chance a leap to see if it would bring down their prey. Its hand had caught onto the rim of the hand rail and its weight did all the rest, pulling the entire thing down to the awaiting hands below. Both levels of metal grating and the shadowing 3-meter giant who had started to gain in speed during its chase went into a tumbling descent, saving the two from a catastrophic end.

Annie and Armin had both cleared previous walk-way and climbed onto the next and last flight of stairs, making it into the third level of the building with their pace unbroken. They still felt the tremulous pull of the disconnecting segments of steel that had nearly dropped them to their knees. The warehouse structure reverberated with the grinding cacophony of twisting metal and angry, howling Titans; the sound a terrible storm of shrieks that was sure to excite the beasts still sitting outside.

The facility never had many winding bridges and suspending walk-ways that could have protected the two blonds to begin with; it had just enough to allow the formally residing higher level staff to oversee the projects going on below. Considering this, it was inevitable that they would run out of metal paths to run on. The pair had reached the highest point and paused so that Armin may catch his rattling breath, slumping against the railing while placing his shaking hand to his stinging chest. Annie was still largely fine and ready to take off again if the need arises, but she was clearly more focused on the struggling boy next to her.

Armin can see her doubt curving her pale lips and he knew what it was that she was fretting over. His ribs were proving to be more than just a hindrance and his below-par endurance didn't really help in the least. Her visible worry was making him feel more uneasy, and it was bad enough that she wasn't in the right frame of mind herself to stress over him. Her emotions were more easily seen these days and it was a startling change that he hadn't expected.

She had announced, "This is high enough," all the while trying to hide her own anxiety from Armin, but he was wise enough to know her and her knitting brow by now. Her constantly tossing looks between he and their exit some several long meters away was a giveaway to her consternation as well. It wasn't a great distance for the gear, but it was a _straight _shot up and it had a barrier blocking their way. For the boy and his feeble form it was a wild ride that could finish breaking his arm through and through and there was still some Titans outside waiting to intercept them; add to that the probability of having glass lodged into his still-healing flesh. It was far from reassuring despite being so close to freedom.

"Can you or can you not use your gear now?" She had asked without a beat.

"I said..." He rasped, his dried throat constricting around a lump he didn't know he had until now. "...I said that I would try. There was _never _any guarantee that I could even pull this off! My arm is the real trouble here as to my ribs."

"Well its a good thing that you have a med in your system right now," she threw at him. She was giving off irritable body language that betrayed her normally concealed emotions. "I'll go ahead and break the glass above, but you better be right behind me for when we get out of here."

_Is she sassing me-?_

A series of roars shook the place with the force of a high-explosive, rising from the infuriated Titans below. The two lost the urge to argue as they heard it, their faces portraying immediate fear that drove home the brevity of their situation. Nervous energy coiling in their shivering bodies, Armin reached for his gear as Annie watched him with poorly veiled uncertainty, her eyes never quite losing the roundness of her earlier fright.

"They called," she said in a hollow voice.

Armin grasped the handles and entwined his fingers into the trigger guards, his broken finger not cooperating as well to his tastes as he would have liked. He tried to make sense of Annie's pitiful murmur. "What do you me-?"

"No time." She turned to gaze at the translucent barrier segregating them from world outside, "I'm going to break through that and transform just as I exit. We're going to run straight towards the next wall and we won't be stopping for anything."

"What-? That doesn't sound reliable at all!" He shouted. "What about your gear?"

A great tumult of sound shook the foundation of the building, a guttural cry rattling the frame work of the interior and knocking Armin onto his backside against the railing. Annie had stabilized herself against the bar as well, her eyes widening at the noise.

"Fuck," the shifter had had her turn to curse as she made sense of the giants' bellowing yowls. Whenever Annie resorted to use such vulgar terms, it can be interpreted as a very bad omen to Armin.

"Annie," he picked himself back up and braced against the cold steel kissing his backside. "What's going on with those Titans? And what about our plan to get out-?"

She didn't grace him with an answer. Her eyes were expressing a confusing mess of things that the boy couldn't read as they flashed in an out of view. "Just follow me," was her final words to him.

Upon hearing this, Armin felt his almost non-existent courage wither and die just as Annie had launched a hook right into the ceiling above. Sailing into the air, she released as much gas as she could permit herself and crossed her arms over her torso and head in an effort to protect herself from the oncoming crash that was sure to at least stun her, if not worse. The boy had barely a second to yelp in concern for her safety before the snapping crackle of shattering glass stifled his call. The shards fell in shower around him and in his hair, informing him of her successful exit but it did nothing to quell his worry. She must have been hurt by the collision weighing in the impressive noise.

That worry graduated into unbridled fear just as a war cry sounded from somewhere outside; it had without a doubt originated from an extremely large Titan that had loomed about the vicinity. Annie must have had a run-in with the beast literally less than a second after her departure and yet he hadn't moved from where she had left him. Remembering what being left idle has done to his friends and allies in the past, he shook himself of his doubts and released a hook as well. After it caught on something in the rafters above, he gulped down his dread and tried to not think of what his arm and other injuries will do to him once he starts using his gear again.

He _really _hated his life.

A greenish haze washed the world into another color beyond the hole in the ceiling, a golden beam of electrified energy rumbling into view at the same time. Armin felt the building shake again as a buffeting gale shrieked into the interior. Some of the loosened pieces of glass fell onto him as well, the window frame having rattled warningly. The boy leaned against the bars to keep from falling over from the concussive reverberations, the noise having done more than just jolt him out of his thinking stupor.

_Annie transformed and I'm still in here. I need to get moving._

Swallowing all of his dread and latent fear, he lifted off the grate as well, his baggage and injuries having made the initial launch nearly impossible to follow through. The trigger was a little sticky on one side and just generally more difficult to press on the other; he had to employ the use of his crippled arm in order to actually use the ODM gear, but it was a necessary evil that had made his limb pulse like his waist. The gas roared out of the fan as he discharged as much as he could allow himself without wasting too much, trying to recall his practice with both Marco and Jean. The problem with his situation was that he was carrying their supplies and his own weight, coupled with the gear itself. It was nightmarish on his bleeding side but it was required of him since he wanted to help Annie out in some way.

Flying into the air, he chomped down onto his own lower lip without even realizing it, his arms crossing each other in front of him just as Annie had done before. He neared the broken skylight and watched as the glass slid right past him, barely millimeters from his pallored and flushed skin. Having cleared the obstacle with no added lacerations, Armin righted himself in midair and tilted forward until his descent brought him down onto the flattened roof of the warehouse, his bent form incurring the wrath of his bleeding waist. Moving a hand over the angry, probably never to heal wound, he took in the sight around him. His jaw dropped just as he looked around the block, taking in Annie's transformed state and her currently preoccupied activity.

The ugly bitches were all over the Female Titan; a chaotic stream of wrinkly flesh bounding over to take a bite of her but failing no less. It was only because that she had her skin crystallized was she able to beat them back so ferociously and so well. Upon glimpsing Armin from the wild tangle of her hair and enemies did she lose her interest in fighting them; and it seemed that she may have in fact been _enjoying _her meaty punching bags briefly before his arrival. Her pent up frustrations and love for display of her techniques sometimes made her not reckless so much as even more dangerous as an enemy. Annie was not callous like Eren but she was capable of going overboard, and it wouldn't be a first that she made a tactical error. She was as intelligent as Armin in some ways but still fell short of his attributes in _some _way that made her terrifyingly capable of losing her sense of self-control.

She forced a 15-meter (and it was taller then her per se) into a choke hold as she bit out its nape, ultimately finishing it. Tripping another 10-meter as she went, her hand reached over to the unmoving blond soldier and snatched him up without leaving the other neighboring Titans to even realize what she was doing before they noticed their targets were trying to run away. The floundering giants snarled and fell into a jog behind the two the next second there-after.

~000~

It would remain that way for the next little while too, the Titans being at their flanks and trying desperately to get at the pair. Annie's well-controlled strength kept her pace just ahead of their enemies though, and even if the 'abnormals' behind her were smarter than normal, they were still dumb Titans in a way.

Her body continued to pace itself as Armin bobbed in her hand, his injuries a familiar pulse of agony that kept him not only drugged with near mindless pain but full alertness on the side. The boy watched the land passed beneath them but was acutely aware of the intelligent giants still trying to keep a bead on them beyond his line of sight. He raised his eye to see into the distance the Wall, which was still a gray slab resting on the hills but it would soon grow into the larger structure he knew it was. He thought it looked blurry, but he blamed his condition for the misleading sight.

Pursing his lip, he darted a glance at his normally stolid captor above, taking in the expression on her twisted and contorted face. She had been savoring the combat she had been engaged in before but her earlier worry had bled back onto a face that was of purely artificial origin. Obviously, Annie was being more careful with her fragile cargo this time around weighing in the ginger touch she was cradling him in. Her fingers caged themselves around him protectively enough to assure he didn't fall, while her lithe but solid physique carried her torso over the barren land with a easy care that had not been present before.

Armin looked away from her and back at the final barrier ahead, his shaking mind wondering over to the safety of his friends miles behind him. He desperately wished to be curled into the comforts of their companionship, sitting and talking of their plans for the future even though there was nothing pleasant to say about it. At least he would be with people he _trusted _more than life itself. Jean with his frank honesty; Connie and Sasha's upbeat antics; Levi's vulgar and unusually casual humor in shit jokes was certainly amusing, although he was more superior than friend; and the other two... Mikasa and Eren, he wanted to just run right into them and embrace them, never to let go. No matter how childish the act would be and how many people would be around to see it, he wanted more than anything else to be engulfed into the familiar love that was their friendship. His eyes would weep and his body would shake in their keeping as they held him close, as if they were of blood. Eren would curse at the fact that they had been separated for far too long and Mikasa would suddenly take on a more motherly persona and try to placate Armin as he cried out all of his greatest fears and regrets until their clothes were drenched in his tears.

But it was a bitter and silly thought that soured into something horrendously painful just then: He might never see them again at this rate and it was dashed against the current predicament he was in. His journey with the girl he was with now with would take him to places many, many hopeless miles away from all that love and terror as the war dragged on behind the Sina boundary. He could only hope that the Scouts's need to go to Shiganshina would take his friends over to where he and the Female Titan were heading to right now. Maybe it wasn't so impossible to see them again, but it would be a while before he can get the chance to even lay eyes on them- Well, one eye to say the least. His other one was slashed all to hell and he hadn't opened it in days.

For right now, he would have to settle for Annie's chaste and isolated company. Sure she was being kinder to him than what was required and expected of her, but she kept her distance and it was painful. Her sense of 'companionship' was more like something he can see but couldn't touch; like a cold, forlorn mountain mired in an eternal fog at a great distance. The same frigidness of her natural behavior will never disappear after all that has been said and done in Stohess, no matter how uncharacteristically kind she chose to become. Even if she became his closest friend in the world (like that was going to happen...), with the things that had transpired before, during, and after their journey, the transgression would forever remain in memory. His treacherous actions were ingrained into her soul's recollection like a terribly healed brand and Annie Leonhardt was not the most forgiving of people. She would remember it all even if Armin had grown old in age and forgot about it completely.

This aside, Armin focused on the now and bit his broken lip again, his maneuvering gear heavy on his sides; most especially on the injured. He couldn't take it off yet with the wall being so near now. He noted dimly that Annie had started to pick up her speed in a bid to out-race the Titans behind her, hoping to gain some breathing room so she can get a head start in climbing the wall before they can reach her. Armin knew he would have to use his gear in the moments to come while she scaled the 50 meters of pure Titans' essence using her crystallized digits.

The dismal thought of knowing the colossal creatures hiding inside the wall had lost some of its initial terror, but it was no less harrowing.

He smacked his dried lips and felt his eye flutter against the assailing wind that slammed into him as Annie moved, the acidic humidity following it promising cold rain. It was making him shiver as his thin muscles fought against the nippy air. He fisted his over-sized shirt and breathed through his teeth, the Female Titan's warm corded muscles beneath him intricate and tangible but relatively stiff in comparison to her extraordinary body moving around him. He felt silly for not having noticed sooner over the times he had seen Eren transform that a Titan's body was just as complicated a network of coiling tissue and sinew as a human's; although the bodies were not quite... real in a way. It was no wonder that Hanji had appreciated Titan physiology.

More rampant, stray, useless thoughts aside, he continued to wonder as the meters disappeared the closer they got to their destination. The wall was a defined structure that stood against any and all visuals, imposing and great but weak and helpless to change in Titan assault tactics. Annie's strides grew longer beneath him as she finished getting ahead of their pursuers to a satisfying point where she could think and act more clearly.

Upon stopping in front of the wall, standing closely to the locked river gate some short Titan-paces away, Annie had looked at the boy in her palm and roved her eyes over him in some scrutiny. Armin knew what it was that she was asking; it was whether or not he could make the climb or hold on in some way as she scaled the relatively smooth face. He was shaken (once again) from the ride here alongside Annie's initial charge from the warehouse and it was making him ache terribly. His medication was not so powerful since it did not keep his side from throbbing any less.

Giving her his short answer, Armin informed her that he couldn't make the climb in the least and he would end up using too much gas doing so. He supplied with some visible level of disgust that he could hold on in her mouth since there was no other out, and it would save them some time in the process. The intelligent Titans were in sight and they had no other idea in which to employ, so Annie did nod to this strange development and held him to her parting jaws. The boy loathed doing this, seeing how it was the one out of four too many times that he's ever been in a Titan's mouth. He never wanted to do this again if he can help it.

Nonetheless, he clambered inside and used his grappling hooks to anchor himself into her teeth, assuring his safety better than any old conventional means of ascent in their quest. He pulled back against it and tested it, and seeing how he did not move afterwards, he hollered at the Female shifter to start her climb. He had to fight the urge to be sick just as he felt her leap straight into the air, the familiar and still unwelcomed lurching sensation making his empty stomach roll. The following crackling noise of rupturing stone informed him of Annie's speedy attempt to get to the top, and all he had to do from then on is to make sure he didn't accidentally fall back into her throat and into the hot mess that was her near-boiling innards.

* * *

~000~

The climb was over as quickly as it had began thankfully enough.

Annie had managed to get to the top and precariously balanced herself on the thin sliver of chipping stone, her sapphire eyes wandering over back towards the ground fifty steep meters below. The Titans had managed to catch up but they knew nothing of upward mobility, so it assured their solace if only for the time being. Satisfied with their progress, Annie had opened her mouth and held out her hand, her other keeping itself lodged into the wall to keep her over-sized body from toppling over prematurely. Armin had appeared a second later, bedraggled and covered in phlegm and saliva yet again.

His icy skin was paler than she thought, even if he had been surrounded by the constant heat of her Titan form; it was as if the whole trip here had drained him of some of his precious life. When he had been perched in her hand, she thought she had hallucinated that dizzingly large amount of warmth bleeding out from his idle form. Today, his mind had been a little more than off with his actions and words and laugh he had let out in the basement of the warehouse. His bleary perspective on things was making her grow uneasy again, his lacking in fear and self-regard being absent seemed to have grown in the time they had spent away from each other. He was more interested in Annie's own welfare (and in some way she couldn't discern) and his dreary personality seemed to be almost colorless compared to the vibrant boy she had seen in training long ago.

The same boy who dreamed of worlds beyond their walls could be dead beneath this withering carcass. That purity and belief in things that seemed so phenomenally impossible but true was an appealing quality that he alone had and she secretly found inspiring. Was all of that sense of wonder really gone or was it merely buried where she could not see?

She had deposited him onto the wall and lowered her own massive cranium to a point where her large nose kissed the chilly stone; emerging from the nape a second later in a steamy release. Armin had withdrawn from Annie and was seen shaking enough to get her attention, bending over and dry heaving once. He was apparently feeling the repercussions of her own carelessness during the flight here, and it saddened her in a way even though she had exercised caution in her transport of the pair here.

Worried immensely but keeping her emotions in check, she freed herself of the tough tendrils of flesh connecting her to the Titan, her gear a hot but unharmed mess against her body. Being an expert at this art of Shifting had allowed for her to assure she didn't damage the gear beyond all use of it in the long run. She had slid off of the body next and leveled her normally expression-less face at the boy afterwards.

Her now deadened form began to sizzle and loosen itself from the Wall, its grip slack and fingers releasing some of its crystaline shine. A moment later, the Titan body was falling down to the Aberrants below, barreling at a rate that was sure to kill some of the smaller if not severely harm them. Annie had watched it go for only a second before returning her gaze to Armin, who was now coughing into his dirty hand. She made the attempt to near him but he had motioned for her to stay her distance, his torso trembling as he coughed again and again as if he was trying to clear his body of something. A moment later, the convulsions stopped largely and he had straightened his posture, his calm and his breath reclaimed.

Annie was worried about him to the point where she felt her hair may even go gray from it. It was an unusual transition from her once colder self, but she chalked it up to the change in her personality after her release from her crystal.

Emotions are such fickle and useless things.

Minutes lapsed first, Armin huffing a bit still and eye void of emotion. Annie had learned from days of endless observation that he was just thinking, bolstering nerve for himself when he did that. He seemed to have considered something next and nodded to it another pause later. He turned to face the girl as she mutely recovered from her last transformation, noticing his awfully stiff posture. Armin had approached her and stopped just a few feet shy of her personal space with his arms, injured or not, firmly glued to his sides and his face troubled. She looked up to him and expected to be met with a lecture regarding her lack of tact after their last flight, but she was met instead with this unerring guilt and shame searing behind a wall of self-depreciation.

Now what did Armin have to say with such a heavy look?

He began with a visible sadness apparent in his lowered voice, his shoulders tense. He muttered lowly, "...I'm sorry I couldn't have helped you more, Annie."

Oh. It was _that _apology again. He didn't want to meet her eyes for some reason but now she knew.

"I know I haven't been... nothing short of a liability this whole trek, so I wanted to apologize for it all. For what you have done already and for ahead of time I mean," He trailed off for a second. "Thanks for doing so much for me, although our current position with each other is soo... well, you know. Captor and captive I think."

The shifter gave a slight tilt of her head. Armin was too forgiving she concluded. It made her think of the freckled trainee from the time before all of this madness; Marco Bodt the kind and amiable. It was no wonder that Armin and the other had clicked so well as friends.

His face hardened after a brief minute, his single eye half-lidded, "After all that I have done to you; the betrayal and the fighting..." His shoulders slumped more, as if a weight had been placed on them tangibly. "I had never wanted to believe any of it could happen. Especially since I learned about how you cared more for some of us than you let on." His ruddy face was casted downwards as his voice softened to a near murmur, "I may be your prisoner, but it still doesn't mean that I'm spiteful towards you considering what had happened... I thought I was doing what was in Humanity's best interests, but I'm not the good person like I thought I could be."

He chuckled darkly before he recaptured his somber air, "It was a self-righteous mold that I thought I could cast myself into, and it was a stupid idea. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended me with all the shit I've put you through, what with my melt-down back there-" A derisive sound emerged from his throat, "All I could say to that is that you were right; I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. Despite the situation we are in, I'm just sorry that I couldn't have been more of a good person to you as you were to me. I'm so sorry for that, Annie."

His eye's trajectory stayed glued onto the stony surface of the wall, his bitten-through lip bright and puffy. His fists balled up together, even though one of his arms should have been in a sling. He dipped his head and bit and tore at his lip, clearly giving off more nervous body language that unveiled to her that he had said his peace, but not all of it. It was more of his weakness just bleeding through like earlier.

This proclamation had caught her slightly off-guard, but not truly; once again Armin had managed to disarm her with his strange words and behavioral flip-flop. Annie felt her face fight over what it wanted to display; in-between surprise or heat that she was convinced wasn't from her transformation. The later feeling made her feel weird in an unpleasant way that didn't right with her even if it could be compared to a certain human emotion.

Armin must have been practicing this little speech for a little while before this incident; maybe even before his fight with the Ape weighing in the word selection he had employed for the apology. All of it saved for her and for after she had somehow managed to escape her crystal prison. Though he had somewhat trailed a few times in this little speech of his he had been so sure in saying it and gave her the inkling that he was remorseful of his betrayal in more ways then she had thought.

Annie groped for some of her older and more cystic traits in order to steer this conversation where she wanted it to go. It was callous but it was something she was more comfortable with using. "Forget it," was her chosen reply. Her tone concealed her own growing warmth but it did nothing for the funny sense of embarrassment that had come from some dark and uninhabited pit in her gut.

_What the actual hell are these feelings anyway?_

"Eh?"

"...There isn't much anyone can do with injuries like yours," she tried sounding like her older self, but that was failing miserably.

God damn human feelings.

"I will admit," She continued, her eyes hovering to anywhere other than Armin's mildly confused face. "You've endured more than most would have after all this time. I would think that you're not so weak after all... Well, except for your lousy sense of self-worth I guess."

She felt so flustered about giving anyone any of her praise or offers to help, and it made her feel worse with every passing second. Her gut knotted every single little time it did that and it pissed her off often. It was bad enough that she was already aware of how flawed she is as a person at times and it had sealed her doom the instant someone like Armin had decided to read and use that. Her concern, more abrupt anger, and meager attempts at being emotionless can really rake her over the coals sometimes. Acting coy, ignorant, or denying any and all feeling and truth was in her blood for Rose's sake. It was the reason why she was alive.

Across from her, the boy scratched his nose; a trait he hadn't performed in a while. He seemed even more shy whenever he did this, his eye a warm coin of dancing blue that seemed shimmer as he smiled. His back-pedaling did betray his uneasy acceptance of the praise, seeing how he usually given rather tart commentary instead.

This was more like the Armin Arlert she knew and she couldn't have been more glad for the return of his formerly modest personality in all actuality. Seeing him do something so minuscule was an immense relief for her for a reason she couldn't divine. The gesture was a sign of his humbled reactions towards what little praise he had ever been the recipient of, but it was so... _Armin _in a way. No other trainee possessed such a small and unassuming habit quite like that and it assured her that his sanity isn't all lost.

A lightness settled into the air that Annie had never expected next; and it wasn't a bad kind of stillness. It wasn't awkward or pensive, nor taut and terse in the after-math of sardonic word-play; it was just a _something _that didn't have any explanation. If she could give it a word at all, it could be described as pleasant. It was in a way a silence that acknowledged the respect the two had for one-another, but it wasn't quite like that either. It was more puzzling and deeper than some would expect out of a pair like them to have between them.

The pause was indeed a comfortable one. The little that they had developed between each other, born from the mutual need to survive and hardened through the trial and error throughout the few days that they had endured out here was a change that Annie found different and new. It was a territory she never wanted to venture into, but it wove a powerful influence over her that made her feel more than just youthful.

It made her feel like a _girl _for once.

She despised it more than anything else. She fucking hated it and all that it brought. It made her feel things she had long since condemned for reasons that she was only alive now because of. Human as she was, she loathed feeling like this and it made her frightened of what she could be revealing on her face. It seemed silly and maybe even pointless since this was Armin she was in front of, and they are alone and away from any other prying human eyes, but one never knew what consequences could come from such emotional displays.

Armin had meanwhile stopped scratching his nose and gazed at her, his eye lighting up if only slightly as his azure stare caught her own icier pair. His earlier lamentations of his helplessness now forgotten, he took the time to study her: To _really _study her. A self-conscience sensation burned itself into her face and gut as he kept his gaze lingering over her countenance. It was a fast and easily missed observation, but it made her squirm and move away an inch or two. The dying orange of the sun caught itself on the vivid glow of his last eye, making him seem all the more intense in his scrutiny.

He smiled at her lightly after quiet a minute, and suddenly noticed that he was making her feel uncomfortable. Moving his lips soundlessly at something, he had lowered his gaze to the wall and tinted a bit in the cheeks. Compliments were rare for him, this much she knew.

"T-Thank you... I think," he had remembered the insult that she had added at the end of her last comment though. Lousy sense of self-worth was still true and even he was seen giving the statement a slight agreement, "I'm a weak person true enough, but I guess I can safely agree with you about lasting this long. I guess I shouldn't complain then, huh?"

Annie looked away again, her cheeks warmer than usual; she hoped it had been from the hellish inner temperature of her Titan shifting. After another silent minute with heat in her face she had said in attempt to remove the blush, "...We should take a break. We can eat up here while we have the chance."

Armin gave another nod, his expression serious again. It was eerily Erwin-like, although Annie herself had not known much of the man extensively enough to correctly compare. "We could rest while we're at it," he stated. "Dunno about you but I'm tired and the day has been hard on me."

_I bet it was._

Armin was seen settling down onto the stone and removing his packs and gear, Annie following suit as well seeing how there shouldn't be any threats fifty meters up in the air. Sure they were unprotected from the steadily colder zephr blowing in from the east but they were safe otherwise. The air from the autumn wind promised a chill later on and the tang clinging to the atmosphere reminded Annie that rain would soon come. She just hoped that it wouldn't storm tonight. She weighed her options but found that her mind could not hold onto a single thought for too long; her hunger and thirst returned with a fury that left her feeling fatiued enough to put her into a comatose sleep for days.

Her power and its damned side-affects just suck.

Across from her, Armin had offered out some of the dried food from their bag and the water skin to sate her anticipated needs. She took the items with a nod and practically inhaled them as the boy went to trying to patch himself up, starting with the removal of his upper body harnesses. His ruined Titan-spit lathered shirt was the next to go but he was clearly having trouble doing it. Annie was about to help but he motioned for her to stop and exclaimed something about doing it himself.

Being an independent individual mattered so much to him, as if the motions could ease the people around him and lighten their burden if only a little. She couldn't tell if it was just because he was either selfless or just being stubborn. He is such a strange boy she concluded. How can someone give off so many confusing and mixed signals?

She finished off her meager dinner rather swiftly as he tried to take care of his own medical needs, but now he had to tend to his useless eye and blood-caked waist with a broken arm on the side. Annie snorted lightly to herself as she watched as the boy seemed to have realized this and instead went to mend something he _could _deal with on his own. He went to unravel the saturated fabric around his scalp but hissed as his bones in his tired limb bit at him, Annie getting up and at it before he can even bark a protest.

"No Annie. I can-"

"Shut up," she snapped. "I'm not prepared to watch you hurt yourself more over trying to mend your own wounds."

_He can be such a stupid fool for someone so intelligent._

She sat in front him, her fingers ghosting over his splotchy cheeks and causing for him to flinch as if he was burned. Annie could see why; her body was warmer than his own and the temperature contrast was a jolt for him and his clammy form. Despite this, she was already finishing with the removal of the bandage over his face and went to investigate what the whole ordeal of their latest escapade had done to it. She had to force herself not to make a face at the shredded mess she was currently looking at.

It must have failed miserably since the boy had asked, "Is it that bad?" and it left an uncomfortable sensation to sit heavily in her gut after he said this in such a defeated way.

She may be facing him perfectly but it didn't mean that she could meet his unharmed orb currently displaying his rueful nature. She kept her eyes on his ruined socket and grumbled, "I'm not gonna lie; I don't think you could ever use this again. Its a mess."

"Figures. It would be just my luck."

Armin's casual reaction to the statement was unexpected, as if he had accepted this new infirmity long before the prognosis. Annie hummed something in answer to his blunt comment and went to fix him up with a new patch in silence. She went to disinfect it with a solution Armin had found in a town previously and told him not to move too much as she was applying it; it was going to burn like crazy had been her only warning.

He groaned and shuddered and shied away from her ministrations and cursed under his breath as soon as the clear water-like liquid had been dabbed onto his lid. Annie wanted to apologize immediately afterward but refrained form doing so: they both knew the procedure would sting.

"Hell's teeth it freaking burns!" Armin's hand hovered over the injury but did not quite touch it. His reactions to her attempts at healing sometimes called for a reason to laugh, but she knew better.

Biting down her misplaced humor she drew closer and forced him to sit still, "Stop moving and don't bitch. You'll have a real reason to complain once I start tending to your waist."

Armin seemed to shudder at that, "Wish I tossed that solution when I found it."

Annie said nothing to that, holding a wad of cloth up to his face and holding it onto the lost cause of an eye. She went to wrap his sordid skull next, finishing with the patch job around his head as her emotions played between uncertainty and amusement.

As she went to inspect his wound on his hip she had said after a few minutes, "By the way."

He looked up at her, his expression politely curious.

The Titan shifter kept her expression carefully neutral as she asked, "Remember when I said I smelled something terrible earlier in that warehouse?"

His tightened expression informed her of his knowing of the origin of said smell. His somber-sounding voice concreted that, "Yeeeaah... Why?"

Annie did let slip the slightest smirk then, "I knew that smell was coming from you."

Armin was quiet for a minute, and then, "Oh. Well I guess I should say goodbye to whatever dignity I had left now."

"To be honest, I wasn't sure you had a lot in the first place," She mused.

He withdrew from her and then smiled quaintly, as if she hadn't said anything degrading at all. His remaining eye however did not match the mirth in his voice, "You're terrible. Thanks for that last comment. I could've gone on without hearing it."

"Too fucking bad," had been her last words to him before resuming her nursing work.

* * *

~000~

The waxing crescent shed little light onto the featureless black void that was the world below, its luminous glow paltry and thin in the frigid night.

Hunkered down underneath the fleeting warmth of his Scouts' raincoat, Armin had shuddered and kept his eye arrested onto the chilly rock beneath him. Annie was sitting beside him but was no less than a whole meter apart from him and was cursing under her visible breath at their inability to make a fire. There was no way to start a healthy flame up here with no resources to burn for a prolonged period of time. Moreover, Armin wasn't going to ask if she could go and fetch any; it was too much work and caused way too many headaches as it stands. Besides that, he deemed himself proudly as a gentleman and would never go as far as to ask her to do something so utterly ridiculous. It was bad enough that their intelligent gigantine friends were still lounging about below, some staring up at them with wide, glaring eyes that almost seemed owlish in the gloom.

Annie had shook enough to catch Armin's eye a while earlier after the sun vanished and took its golden warmth with it. He wasn't indifferent to her needs despite their strange and unexplainable relationship. For some odd reason, she was obviously as cold as he was and yet she continued to obstinately refuse to rest against him after he had offered her some reprieve from the nippy bite of the weather. He wondered if she really did still hate him more than he had originally believed. It's not like he would complain if she came over though.

If anything, he found that he might actually enjoy it.

Frowning slightly, he had lifted the coat as yet another invitation to come on over and rid herself of the miserable cold, but Annie had merely regarded the gesture in cat-like manner and stared ahead for the umpteenth time that night. Miffed and growing rather cross at her apparent rudeness, the boy wrinkled his button-nose and grunted to get her attention. His patience with her cystic traits having grown short, he expressed his distaste at her reticent behavior and tutted.

_What crawled up her arse and died? She was nicer hours ago. Tired maybe?_

"I know you hate cold spells," He had inputted matter-of-factly.

She had slid her eyes over at him and said nothing to that. Her considerably smaller frame shivered again, but with a strained motion that meant that she was trying to conceal it.

Trying to keep the annoyed tone out of his voice, he had stated without making his frustration with her so obvious, "I also know that you aren't someone who's used to sharing personal space with others, but sometimes its for the better." He added with a softer lilt next, still not quite losing his hard edge, "This I've done with Mikasa and Eren in the past, back before training began, when we were refugees. There was a lot of consecutive nights where we did this. It was the only way to survive those winters."

This memory had given him cause to stop for a second, the recollection leaving his heart feeling emptier than ever. "-I mean it when I do say this; it beats sitting out like that freezing to death."

"Its not like I'll die from it," she bit at him.

He rolled his eye. How can she find the time to fight with him over something so apparently frivolous? It was a practical move; nothing more. She didn't mind the contact with him whenever she dressed he and his wounds, but that was out of pure necessity true enough. However, she was finding _now _to be so immature about her level of social comfort? Unbelievable. Her moods do seem to change so quickly and left him reeling sometimes.

_Or is it that she's just terrified of the whole idea?_

Not knowing where he had gotten the conclusion, he had tossed at her dryly next, "You get my point though. Would you rather just sit there and look pathetic all night while arguing with me or are you not going to warm yourself up instead?"

There was a pregnant pause. She didn't grace his response with an answer initially, her expression a silent but baleful stare that bespoke of her own feelings on the idea of breaching personal protocol. However, she clicked her tongue at him next and then subtly drew closer to him a minute later, Armin already lifting his ragged coat to receive her. She still kept her chilled skin apart from his own largely but when his arm draped over her shoulders she was forcibly drawn up more snugly against him. Immediately the two were feeling relieved from the bitter air and Annie had somewhat forgotten her childish imprudence, her wide eyes already growing heavy.

Armin had to keep from shuddering himself; Annie felt like a solid block of ice to him. She had been fine moments prior to the sunset, seeing how she had just come out of her Titan form. But her artificially generated and raised body temperature had cooled down and was gone by the time he had noticed. She was susceptible to being cold but he did not think to this extent.

Annie may have been involved with the malignant activities of Reiner and Bertholdt, her fellow Titan shifting cohorts, but has she not shared space with them before? She was a refugee too in years past and the worse winters had been a killer time then; literally speaking considering the death toll that had increased during such impoverished times. Annie froze easily and always sought the warmth with a primal drive that surprised her peers whenever the season rolled around back in training. Has she always been alone during those two years or has she found yet some other means to sustain herself? It struck a curious chord within the boy but he did not question it further nor put voice this thought. Annie's business was Annie's business after-all.

Shifting against his side as to assure that she did not aggravate the hip injury further, Annie let out a puff of air that materialized into view afterward and stared absently into Maria's vast distance. Her gaze was sleepy and heavy and it gave Armin reason to yawn just by looking at her fatigued expression. He felt a little sheepish doing what he was doing, leaning on her and resting his almost colorless cheek on her crown, but this was nothing but a mutual benefit to the two that ensured satisfaction on both ends.

Nothing to it.

Annie shuffled her shoulders and broke the vigil between them after a long span of uncounted minutes, her voice drugged with her exhaustion, "Don't expect this too often Arlert. I don't normally do this kind of thing you know."

"You don't need to tell me," he had spared another tongue-curling yawn just then. "...I know you better than that."

The girl let her eyes slide shut, a barely audible noise rising from her throat resembling a 'hmmf'.

Armin started considering lying back, his spine creaking as he moved it a bit and his mind moving into a slow and incoherent mumble of thoughts. He didn't budge despite his weakened torso's desire to move; a stinging fire igniting in some of his joints and fractured ribs but he didn't mind it that much. Annie was settled peacefully next to him, slumped onto him really, her mouth coming open once or twice as if working her jaw but no more.

She smelled gross, but he assumed he did as well, having gone on for so long without a proper soaking. Technically speaking though, Annie had faired longer without a bath; lying in a shimmering prison of diamond for weeks on end and coming out of it smelling like a newborn babe in a pool of after-birth. Like the barest of essences of meat and fetid flesh in a dizzying aroma that reeked so badly that Armin had been surprised that he hadn't noticed sooner. His dead man's smell was nothing new now that he thought about it. He didn't feel so silly or embarrassed about it since morbidly enough it was a frequently reoccurring scent many in the scouts had been able to identify.

The smell of the dead was a rotten perfume that no one person in the entire world, no matter how strong-willed, could ever forget. There was a horribly discernible difference between an animals' decomposing carcass and a human's. It left a self-righteous asshole like Jean a disheveled and tired man sick of the twisted way the world works.

Come to think of it, was that why Annie had commented on his smell? To make herself not feel so self-conscience about her current scent as it was? She was constantly summoning her Titan form and cloaking herself in it everyday now, and now it was just imprinting itself into her in a disgusting way. It was absolutely sickening. He must have smelled hella descent in his own opinion considering the comparison.

Letting a lop-sided smile touch his tired lips, Armin let his eye drift blearily shut several times and leaned on Annie more heavily than intended. She nudged him warningly in the ribs once with her bony shoulder but then gave up as soon as her exhaustion had decided to reclaim its vice on her. Her legs curled closer to her torso as her head rested on the boy's side just above his slightly burning waist. It was uncomfortable, but a do-able position that gave Armin the illusion that he was once again in the past with Eren and Mikasa. Sharing the budding warmth and fighting the cold with a friend was something that he was certainly familiar with.

He sighed.

These memories were really getting him down and they were reappearing more and more often then he wanted. It was downright painful and it reminded him every fucking time about his situation with the girl dozing against him. If anything, Armin almost _wanted _to hate Annie for it, but he was a much nicer and more forgivable person than that. He was no Eren Jaeger when it came to grudges and rage; there no need for such a blind way of seeing things. Yes Annie was a loathsome individual in some ways, but she hasn't done nothing short of her utmost to preserve his health and provide food and protection for the time they spent wandering their tiny little world of walls and demons.

If the people who struggled here ever did see things as Armin and Marco had, then maybe their shared understanding would have stopped all of the brutality. Titans may still linger, but there wouldn't be any rotten false kings and corrupted governments and dishonest citizens to put up with. But the thought was of a Utopia that will never, ever come to fruition because people were violent and horrible by nature. It was a musing that left Armin to snort contemptuously at that.

Stupid, stupid little Armin. He was more realistic than that, but some sometimes a young mind could help but think of such impossible dreams.

_But didn't I say 'nothing was impossible'...? When did I say that exactly?_

His glittering orb was now fixated onto the empty stretches of land barely visible underneath the moon's pale stare. His mind had a tendency to wander whenever he was feeling so tired. Sometimes it played with his vision too; leaving him to believe if his sight was failing at times or if he was merely losing just another broken and disjointed part of his mind. For example, he thought he imagined that series of trees to the left were swaying and swishing with more animation than perceived, or that the moon was shrinking or getting bigger again. His injuries and lack of anchorage to the real world was an iffy thing these days with him.

It was bad enough that he thought he was imagining that over-large, _furry _thing ghosting over the terrain like it wasn't even there.

He blinked and lifted his head from Annie's, his mouth trying very hard to lose its parched dryness. He licked his swollen lower lip and squinted into the distance, focusing utterly on that specter moving with unnatural, deliberate steps over flat land. The trees had stopped dancing, the moon stopped changing size, and every other distracting feature was back to its original shape. The only thing that remained now was this _something _that haunted the area in what looks like an attempt to head to a mysterious destination.

Fear lodged its jagged claws into Armin's queasy stomach and the frost in his veins completely outmatched the chilly atmosphere. He was seen trying to stir the warrior girl almost fully asleep against him, his panic going from level zero to five in an instant.

"Uh... Annie..."

She didn't move or wake at first until he started shaking next, his body making her crack her droopy eyes.

"Hm-hmmm..."

"Annie," He said, louder this time. He needed her to get up, like right now.

She straightened and snarled, "What now?" Her voice was awfully brittle with her fury. She hated being awoken more so than being cold itself. "...Can't I sleep in peace for once without you having to bother me all the damn time?"

Armin neither answered or reacted; his eye was firmly locked onto whatever was sauntering about in the dancing shadows of Maria's soil. The worst part of it is, he thought he _knew _what that thing was already.

If only things could be easy.


	8. Civilization Lost

_Except for the raincoat for practical warmth, anyone else notice that the two had shed their military garb earlier on as a sign that they are freed of their obligations as soldiers? No? ...Just checking._

_I also apologize for the long update; I had no inspiration lately. It does not mean a hiatus or the story is abandoned though! I also had holiday stuff to do and a new puppy to babysit but meh. I hope all of you lovely readers had a fantastic holiday. :)_

_I'm also sorry for the huge amounts of talking and no fighting. :( _

_I DEFINETLY assure you that the next chapter with have all the fighting and action and stuff that will give you readers the character growth and action you all deserve and crave._

* * *

~000~

Annie tried to clear away the exhaustion brought about by the trials of the day, all the while attempting to peer into the infinite gloom.

Armin had been shivering greatly enough to have stirred her from her dazed slumber and it hadn't been from the cold like she thought it was at first. Infuriated that she couldn't get a moment's rest, she scowled at the suddenly stiffened boy next to her and thought about elbowing him hard into the sorest part of his ribs before her eye caught the stooping figure prowling the plain below. Suddenly, an uneasiness settled over her as it had her companion, her every instinct kicking to life. Shuffling against the boy, her warmth escaped her and a biting qualm drowned whatever peace she may have felt only seconds before. Sleep and fatigue be damned.

"What the hell is that...?" The girl murmured lowly to her panicky partner.

Armin could only shake his head, but it was more in denial rather than in answer. "Dunno... but I think I have a small idea," he returned with some hardness creeping into his voice.

Baffled to full alertness now, Annie removed herself from their shared hold and untucked her legs, sapphire lingering over the stalking lump of fur. Armin's still-knitting limb removed itself from its place around her shoulders and fell heavily against his waist. His hair began to stand on end as Annie straightened her spine and crawled out from underneath the former scout's raincoat, inching towards the ledge and narrowing her eyes as the shadow continued its unerring pace. Her stomach flopped crazily as she seem to i.d what is it that the thing was, sweat beading her pale skin despite the creeping cold. A terrible revelation followed the advent suprise and recognition afterward.

The steady thumping of the creature's over-large feet grew thunderously louder as it slithered closer and closer still to the Wall, its size clearly impressive and most certainly larger than her own Titan form. Muscle bunched and coiled beneath the hairy hide as its slow gait betrayed its calm ease. Its miniscule skull was almost lost on top of its shoulders, but the eyes gleamed brightly enough to draw Annie's nervous stare.

The Titan walked parallel to the Rose barrier but curved its trajectory somewhat as it went, its interest arrested on someting else entirely at the moment. It loped patiently along, not unlike a mountain-dwelling predator, but its wild appearance completly belied the fact that it was indeed sentient. It was only from past interactions with this menace did Annie know what it was in nature; both cruel and indiscriminate as an enemy.

It was one none other than the Beast Titan itself. What else could it be?

_Holy fuck._

Seeing it here of all things, let alone from Armin's past recollections of his last encounter with it informed her of all she needed to know about the current state of affairs regarding their mission. Still, physically seeing here _now _was leaving her breathless with a wintry fear that locked up her limbs and sent her heart into a wild jerking frenzy. Her hands began to tremble as she observed the Titan, her blood seemingly began to feel like it wanted to lump and decay. Her vision felt a lot sharper and clearer in the darkness of night, her body coiling in building tension. She hadn't even noticed that she was shivering next, not until Armin had grabbed her shoulder and redirected her attention back onto him.

"Its heading for Trost," he stated, his voice low with certainty.

"What? How would you know that and why would you think its heading there anyway?"

Her stomach churned unpleasantly; she could guess why. She just didn't want to say it aloud and chose now to play ignorant as a reflex. Pathetic.

Armin's eye squinted at her briefly before it lowered and met the suspected giant in the distance. He pondered over a few ideas but drew a blank initially. Obviously, his slow cognizance was a sign of his exhaustion and deteriorating health.

"I... dunno..." he grumbled. "But I do understand that its going there for a purpose that we shouldn't ignore. Seeing it here though after my last run-in with it... How did it get out here so fast?"

"Who cares?" She shrugged, her nerves feeling frayed and worn despite the danger walking casually in the plains below. She then offered nonchalantly, "-How about we say we never saw it and keep moving ahead instead? Or better yet, we stay here and go back to sleep because we both _need _it."

God. She didn't even realize her voice was capable of being this whiny until she replayed what she had just said in her head. She fucking _hated _it whenever it did that when she was a child and it got her beat for it. Her body grew even colder as her blood began to freeze with her apprehension. She suddenly felt like a bloody coward after saying something like that.

Armin turned and barked, "Annie!" just then. He sounded rather infuriated with her more than anything right now and it made her squirm enough so that she was fidgeting quite visibly. She twisted the ring on her finger briefly, but immediately stopped at the sensation of Armin's fingertips suddenly digging into her shoulder. She tried to rid it of his stubborn grip, but he was holding her there quite firmly. It was rather tight surprisingly and it made her feel trapped; especially considering his livid expression. That glowing orb of icy-blue fire seething in his gaze coupled with his bared teeth made her shrink with shame and fear in a childish manner.

Despite all this, she still managed to get out with a staright face, "What? Did you expect me to fight it?"

"No. I didn't want you to engage it so much as help me do something else," He spat.

"Like what?"

_Now's not a good time to play hero Arlert. You're not going to say we should head to town and warn them are you?_

Annie had her answer when he stared her down just then. He released her shoulder and straightened his posture, his chest out and his mouth thin. His free hand was balled up at his side as he seemed to size up the girl in front of him. Some guttering, freezing blast of random wind sent Armin's wheat-colored hair into a messy veil that curtained over his sightless socket. It was strange to see him so fierce-looking.

Armin Arlert the fiercest; not just the smartest. That whole idea was funny to her.

"No," She had curtly imputed, putting her straying thoughts aside and knowing what he was thinking. She didn't need to be a mind reader to understand what is it that he wanted to convey. He was meticulous and coy himself, but sometimes his ambitions were a little too easy to read.

"Yes," He stated flatly.

She moved a step away from him, "Hell no."

"Hell yes."

"Fuck no! I'm not going to Trost to help those caplacent sheep living there. We're better off going on our way."

"And I say fuck yes, we go."

Annie snarled at him, "You bleeding idiot. You know fully what could happen out there if we go to intercept him right?"

"Yeah. I'm aware," he drawled.

"-And yet you're sending us, a near-dead fool and a fragile girl like me to go anyway? It's madness!"

"And?"

_Dammit he can be a real pain my ass when he wants to be. The nerve of him._

"I thought that you're the one who normally thinks these things through," she complained. "We are _not _going to Trost and that's it, Arlert."

She was complaining. Did she want to avoid the Ape Titan that much? It wasn't a characteristic she was familiar with but was no stranger too all at the same time. To avoid the worst of any given situation, she normally tried to have as little to do with it as possible. She was a frightful coward whenever she wanted to be.

That was how she ended up inside of her diamondtine prison after all.

Annie watched as Armin tightened his jaw. He was giving her a hard look that held a scolding quality in it that compelled her to shuffle her shoulders again. She struggled with the urge to twist and play with her ring again, and it happened whenever she got nervous. He was probably thinking of a way to manipulate her, just like he did last time.

"Armin," she spoke up to merely disrupt his fast-paced thinking. She couldn't let him finish his thoughts. He was dangerous that way.

_Pssh. Armin? Dangerous? Never thought I'd see it that way._

He merely looked at her, his mind still working despite the disruption. Annie bared her own teeth at him and tried to shake off her apprehension. She went on to ask, "Do you really honestly believe that going to help them... could really benefit us in return? Or is it that you're trying to get rid of me after all?"

His next reaction took her off her guard completley; he had _smiled _at her enquiry, his eye never quite losing its peircing gleam.

"Annie," he began, resignation making his voice tight. "I am an under-handed bastard, but after what you have done for me these past days, why on Earth would you think that I would be trying to kill you?"

She felt her bluster leaving her next, her face relaxing its normally reflexive mask of belligerent indifference. Her wariness was still dragging at her already frail nerves, but she found that she could rely on Armin in times of doubt, but he was a two-face liar that always left her reeling in either surprise or unbridled fury when it comes to his plans.

_It is my option to carry it out after all, but he makes me feel like I don't have a choice._

"I swear it on my grandfather's grave, Annie," he had added next, sincerity coloring his voice and giving it a strained quality. "I'm not trying to kill you. But going to Trost right now has more to it, for us, than you seem to think. If I had wanted you dead I would have employed a different tactic before in Stohess instead of that complicated battle we had following. Do you think we would have gone through all of that just to kill you?"

She skimmed over the possibities for only a minute, realizing that he was in fact correct in his statement. Still, she just could not find it within herself to trust his hollow words all the time after what she had experienced first hand that had been a genuine attempt at treachery.

Her tone was like chips of glass as she hissed, "And how am I supposed to know that you're not trying to get rid of me now? We've been in too many close shaves as it is lately."

That's when his expression took an unsettling turn that left Annie to feel even shittier than before.

"I hope so for your sake, Arlert. If this is another deliberate attempt on my life I'm going to say _fuck it _and toss you back out there with the beast Titan. Hell; I might even break the rest of your bones so you can't struggle and toss your still-living body into a thrashing frenzy of aberant Titans, observing at my leisure as they rip you into pieces between them."

"I would deserve that," he said as he smiled thinly, his eye lacking in any fear or even sarcasm at the threat.

"No tricks," she pointed out.

His horrible smile just grew a little more as he shrugged, "No tricks."

With a sniff that blasted out a warm, visible plume of steamy air she whirled away from Armin and packed all of their things, her mind a quagmire of poisenous thoughts of torturing the boy. All of her threats and words and insults had bounced off of the former scout and continued to die in her throat as she finished up and slung the bag over her shoulder, flashing a glare at him in turn. Despite which, he merely regarded her cooly and followed her lead as they left their make-shift bit of stone that had been their camp. Armin's steps were calm in constrast to her clipped stride, his eye sometimes forward and sometimes on her. Annie lifted her lip at him once but ignored the temptation to wring his neck, knowing that he was already too injured to do anything about it. It just wasn't sporty she figured.

Besides, she can always make him regret his smart-ass ways later, right?

* * *

~000~

The cold began to feel less noticable as they jogged along the top of the wall, their bodies now warmed as they followed the towering Ape over to his next idea of a seige.

Armin was puffing brilliantly due to his bruised ribs but Annie's pace was as measured as ever. He bent over once to get his breath but did no more after that, more determined than ever to beat the fucking huge ball of fur at his cruel games. What had transpired over in Stohess prior to Annie's awakening threw images of many people dead and burning buildings at the forefront of his mind. Armin used to wince away from such recollections, but now he was a stronger soldier. He, despite the brutal protest of his ribs against his lungs, kept his jog consistant and steady, his eyes flashing brightly. He would glance at Annie on occasion but then trained his stare onto the general direction in which the populace lie.

The two didn't need to see Trost so much as know where it was and tracing over the barrier beneath them was definitely the best way to locate it in this darkness. It had been a sprawling spot for activity at some earlier interval, but now it beheld nothing but a tragic air to its mere mention. The great stain that was the attack of the Collosal Titan and the ensuing deaths following gave it a feel not unlike Shiganshina's memory. However, Trost managed to scrape up a victory that kept it from dying as horribly as the aforementioned town. The sad truth to it was was that it had been only the glimpse to some greater disasters in the months after.

_Mental ramblings. I'm seriously losing it._

Armin shook it off for the time being, his body a singing myriad of aches and cold flashes. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to feeling the brief snatches of frost that went deeper than the nippy air on his skin, but he ignored it in large part. Annie tossed a look over her shoulder at him a minute later, having heard his increased difficulty in breathing. She didn't stop to ask but her expression was stony enough to clue Armin into her thoughts.

Trying to redirect the lingering concern over his well-being and back onto their mission, he let the shadow of a smile crease his bitten lips and kept moving. No need to pause or stop. No time to genuflect on events that had become memory.

And certainly no need for her concern.

Ignoring Annie's eyes Armin managed to spot something in the curtain of black ahead of them. It was a glow of the town no less, but it was far brighter than Armin thought it would be at this ungodly hour. Seeing this left the boy with an increasing sense of dread that made his freezing body feel clammy under his arms and his hair to stand on end. The light from the town was a blaze of color that went beyond the brightness of simple street lamps and braziers. At this realization, a simple smell hit him next, and it was all too familiar. Even without drawing up a single coherent thought did he know what it belonged too.

_The town is burning._

"Armin." Annie's voice had the faintest traces of doubt in it as he heard it, and that usually signaled that she was about to argue or support her case of doing something opposite to what they were doing. "Trost's already been attacked."

"...Are you about to suggest we turn around and run?" He gasped in-between puffs. His lungs felt like cold fire in a strange way.

Annie didn't respond to this, just as he figured she would.

At her silence he sighed inwardly. Still jogging along on the barrier, he told her firmly, "I'm not going to turn around you know... We're going down there and we're going to get to the bottom of this thing's-"

And then he was kissing cold stone.

Pain rocketed through his side again, but it was minor compared to the horrid sting of his bitten tongue and broken lip. He stayed planted there numbly for a few seconds before looking up dazedly at Annie, who had kicked out her foot and tripped him just as he had been speaking.

She didn't even look remotely guilty, her face the picture of her derisive disagreement to this whole debacle. She faced him fully without even offering to help him up. Her normally dull eyes were slanted dangerously and her mouth was a stiff slash.

_Not again with this Annie._

"What. The. Hell," Armin spat.

"You sickly little shit," she cursed. "You really are clueless for a smart-ass."

"You dropped me just to insult me, Annie? How piteous."

"Shut it."

She approached and yanked him to his feet without warning, her fingers cold and tight on his upper arm. She didn't let go as she glared him down again, her hair a tangle of loose strands falling free of her bun and concealing one of her eyes again. She pursed her lip as she held him there, her grip being enough for her nails to start biting down on his patchy skin like a cat's fangs.

"What?" He wheezed.

"I have two things to say: One, the town is already beyond help in case you haven't noticed." Her stare gleamed anew, a sort of anger rising behind it at that. "Two, your health is an issue at this point Arlert. You cannot even deny that you have a death wish at this point."

"Who said I was denying it? And why is this a concern now?" He swatted her hand away.

She retorted with that typical scowl she wore that belie whatever she could honestly be feeling, "I never said that was a concern, but I have no intention of letting you get yourself killed."

"You've already made that clear to me," he sarcastically input.

That's when she got only a breath away from his face; close enough for her individual eye-lashes to become visible. Annie's shoulders squared as she almost murmured, "Not clear enough if you keep acting like _you _call the shots between us." She pulled away slightly, but not by much. "I would have thought that by now that you could clearly see that a situation is hopeless and there's nothing we could do about it, unless your other good eye is as useless as you are."

_I think she's just trying to shake off her tension at this point, but I don't want her taking it out on me. I'm sick of all this shit too, Annie, but I'm no no mood to hear you bitch about it. I've played off the insults long enough._

He narrowed his eye at her, staring at the frustrating shifter in front of him. His patience had been worn so thinly that he briefly considered slapping her. No longer would he put up with her petty commentary.

"What am I, your second brain? Do you want me to do all the thinking for you? I know we're chancing something foolish but we're going anyway. We can take advantage of this and I'm not wasting anymore time on this quarrel," He tartly stated as he stepped past her, his injured arm falling free of his sling again. He started forward a few steps but paused just as she began speaking again.

"...You're not what you used to be."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He said over his shoulder.

Her voice had transitioned from being agitated to having barely controlled anger lacing it. However, her half-lidded stare had become softer than expected, taking him by surprise. She must not have noticed as she went on with, "Never mind. When we get done with this crap, I just might just beat some sense into you later; given that the Titans don't do it first."

"Go ahead and try," he challenged just as they proceeded towards Trost.

Annie huffed loudly behind him, but Armin ignored it largely and was soon jogging ahead again. She only needed to take a few long steps before she was beside him and keeping her attention on the path in front of them both. Her clipped stride informed him of her apparent exhaustion but he put it out of his mind.

_Don't pity nor sympathize with her. Just keep moving forward._

* * *

~000~

The town's shimmering depths was a brighter orange than both Annie and Armin had originally perceived as they neared it.

Now standing over the town, they could clearly see that an apocalypse of epic proportions had taken place here beneath the knowing of the government. It was either that or it simply didn't matter to the king what happened here anymore, but the town was still undoubtedly unguarded by either scouts or the garrison, much less the Military Police.

Fires ran uninterrupted across the many twisted streets, charcoal plumes of smoke rising higher than the walls itself blotted out the sky, and a cacophony of screams emanated from the darkest corners. The thunderous bellow of gigantine footsteps was also noticeable, although not as prominent as the howls of the many trapped peoples within. A hellish imagery of the ultimate end to humanity's resistance to the Titans, a discordant tumult gone wrong.

Fear bit its way into Annie's nerves, her mouth falling slightly open as opposing sensations clashed within her. Emotions such as guilt and cowardice lanced through her nervous system like a tangible force, shame burning away all of the anger she had had for Armin before. She glanced at the former scout next to her and saw some of the same feelings curve his expression, but his blinded side was facing her so she couldn't discern what he thinking.

Landing her sight back onto the scene, Annie knew that the Ape was close by. She was as certain about that as the wild inferno below. However, it looked as if the chaos had been going on for some hours at least, starting in at around sunset if the destruction was this immense; maybe even longer. The Ape could not have started this if that was the case... He had been heading here just moments ago from a completely different direction.

_Oh wall gods. Something is hideously wrong here._

"Annie."

She looked up him and suddenly wished that she wasn't meeting his gaze. She wanted to look at anywhere else but him, however, his livid gaze had her own locked down. The cerulean of his eye was every bit as brilliant as gem, alive with the writhing pulse of his ambition. Thoughts raced behind it at speeds that her own mind could never hope to keep up with. It stood in contrast to his face with the dull gray circle surrounding it, his skin still too pallored to be considered normal.

_Oh no. Not again with that look_.

It was never good whenever it got that way. It only meant that he was considering something that would most surely put their lives in jeopardy. Tension coiled tightly inside of her abdomen, leaving a cramping feeling unpleasant enough to make her feel sick. Sweat beaded around her collarbone and face the longer he watched her, as if he was passing a silent order to her.

"Armin..." She began, her throat suddenly feeling very dry and raw although they were stories above the heart of the flames that seared the town below.

"Don't even try to talk me out of it," He interjected. "Do you not see what is wrong here?"

She took her time in answering, biting into her lip as she weighed his question. Annie knew exactly what he was asking; it was the same thought that she had boiled down too as well seconds before. She nodded at the notion, confirming Armin's thoughts.

Fortunately for her and her churning gut, he removed his attention from her and regarded the situation in a surprisingly cool manner. He then said, "There's something else here, but I don't have an idea of what or whom."

"And you want me to confess that there are other shifters out there and they could be causing this, right?"

"You guessed right."

_Damn you._

She scowled at him hard enough to almost wish that she was literally burning holes into that dirty head of his. She gave up on glaring at him and watched the fires spread across the plaza in front of the headquarters below: a place where she and her peers had to retreat to back during the initial attack on Trost so they may fill up on their gas.

"There aren't any more," she started, replacing one bitter memory with another. "There was me, Bertholdt, Reiner, and one other. That was it."

"Who?"

"Does it matter? He died."

Armin didn't seem satisfied with that, but he dropped the topic no less. To be honest with herself (and Annie was almost never honest with her own thoughts), she believed that Marcel had died, truly. The overall plan had never changed past that, but some factors had been affected. Crucial ones that could have been avoided.

Putting these recollections aside, she pursed her lip again and asked, "So now what do we do now that we're here? I don't see where we could go or even what the actual objective is. Its not like we're gonna just jump into that mess like that suicidal idiot would, should we?"

From the corner of her eye, she could see the boy smile almost brilliantly at the suggestion. His oily hair concealed most of his face, but his uncharacteristic smirk was completely visible, a flickering second of insanity bare to see. A terrible revelation hit her just as she glimpsed his teeth peeking out from that chapped mess of bloody lips. It was all the warning she just had before he was seen leaping as far and as fast as he can from the wall, pushing off of its ledge with all of his weight and force behind the launch.

_Armin! That fucking-!_

"Damn you!"

She was following suit at that split-second, depositing their bag of provisions at the wall's top and jettisoned after him. She hadn't even considered the repurcussions of such a decision, let alone realize that she was impulsively tailing after him. He was seen straight-out swan-diving towards the rolling hell the world had become, seemingly uncaring of the enemies that lurked beyond the haze. Annie could not help but follow, her concern and anger a confused quagmire amidst the sudden shot of adrenaline that further blurred the lines between the two.

The screaming gale ripped at her hair and wrenched free Annie's normally strict bun, but she hadn't noticed nor cared. She tried to speed up her drop after the boy, but not so much so that when the time for her gear to break her fall she wouldn't end up as a bloody smear on the pavement or the side of a building. She had to squint her eyes against the glare of the fire and smoke and not to mention the wind, but she never blinked; she was determined to keep Armin within her line of sight.

Just as they neared the rooftops, he leveled out his body and flared out his coat to slow his descent. The _pop _of his maneuvering gear was almost impossible to hear over the assailing roar of the air but the sight of him pulling himself out of his dive was an unusual relief. He went into a twirling somersault and launched another hook into a tower about a Titan's length away, sailing almost out of sight.

She bared her teeth and emulated the boy, flying into an arc and going over an heated wall of fire as she did so. Her eyes teared up as she rushed into a column of smoke but still she shadowed the captive-gone-rogue. Her thoughts fluttered but a single thought could not make itself coherent. The normally submissive and sweet Armin Arlert was long dead and gone; this much she knew, but for him to act out in such a brazen way had her cursing more colorfully than Eren Jaeger at times. He was colder, maybe, and he had a tendency to prod at her thinking more often. Even this change, along with his suddenly flippant dismissal of his own life, had her feeling like he was tying her up in knots. Why must he bring them to such dangerous places? Did he really mean to do her harm? That action in Stohess, his subterfuge act sometimes left her reeling in fury even to now.

_No. He's complicated and smart, but he's certainly not sadistic or crude._

Their game seemed so pointless at times, but it held more to it than that. It allowed her to prod back; a chance for her to learn what he was thinking sometimes.

There. Armin was on top of a tower that overlooked docks in the distance and stood almost halfway to the headquarters some considerable streets away. She scathingly called out to his stupid-ass as she reached the apex of her climb and began to slow her speed. She landed deftly next to him, being mindful of the loosened shingles of the crippled structure beneath her.

_I should have chained this mother fucker to me in the first place._

"Armin, are you insane! What the hell is wrong with-" She paused, noticing that his attention was still firmly arrested something she hasn't cared enough to see. She threw looks between him and the general direction he was so intent on staring at. "Armin, this is stupid. We shouldn't even be here."

"Look over at the housing district. See anything in particular?"

"A large group of Titans," she replied disdainfully. "What else is new?"

He gave her a stern expression that was almost authoritative. "You are smart enough to know a group of ordinary Titans from a group of _aberrant _ones. And while you're at it, can't you see what they're targeting?"

_People of course._

Annie sniffed at him and combed some of her hair from her face again, trying to discern why Armin was being so difficult tonight. However, her thoughts went from a whirlwind flurry to a weak little murmur upon seeing the Titans themselves. All huge, all intelligent, and all hostile to an extreme.

And that wasn't even the _worst _part.

They were stooped over a crowd of people; to which was no surprise to both her and Armin, and they were clustered around a rather large crowd of a dozen or so at that. All of them were most certainly citizens of the impoverished district, eyes watering and shivering like a bunch of newborn fawns. Luckily enough for them, they were all underneath the protection of the tunnel they're in, not unlike the subterranean tunnels in Stohess. The trouble was that they weren't in deep enough, sitting barely beyond the entrance, the surrounding areas on the surface having collapsed from burning buildings and caving in the system below. This ultimately rendered the underground escape detour a near-useless shelter at best, and it went only deeply enough for them to be just out of the Titans' reach.

They were safe but in hindsight, they were _trapped _animals awaiting slaughter. They can't either leave the tunnel and evacuate and there was not a soldier or any means of self-defense anywhere in sight. And despite all that, it still wasn't even the worst part.

The most crucial problem here is not the people nor the Titans; but it was the boy-wonder standing next to her, who had _every _intention of saving them all.

_Fucking hell he is going to be the end of me._

"Annie," he began, his voice deceptively calm in its timbre.

"What is the suicidal deed you want me to carry out now?" She sarcastically grumbled.

He turned to face her, his expression brighter than expected. His smirk from before had the confidence in it that she lacked at that moment, the fires of the town making his eye gleam deviantly. She shifted again, feeling the urge to twist her ring but not following up.

"...Are you going to ask me to save those people down there?"

"No," he responded casually. "That comes later, believe it or not. I think they can hold on for another few moments. I have something else in mind that I think you'll be pleased to hear. Have you not seen the docks and what's there we can use?"

Annie gawked at him for that moment, the idea hitting her like someone having just thrown a fully-Titan Eren at her.

_OH. _

She let the faintest traces of a smile creep across her face at this thought, sharing in the genius of the plot coming to mind.

"Tell me what I have to do."


	9. Stand

_The eren/mika fic I mentioned... Anyone want a long future AU where someone uncovers more of Humanity's sick Titan-filled history and one of the canonically-correct protagonists remembers his previous past life in the hopes to keep history from repeating itself?_

_No? Too many of those? Just asking. I also had a Levi/Petra fic in mind too just so you know... Have some fun reading anyway!_

_Oh and here's a random quote of the day!_

_**'For every age, there is a time of trial'.**_

_**-Samos the Sage**_

_**:)**_

_Yes I'm a Jak and Daxter fan..._

* * *

~000~

The ashes fell like the first new-fallen snow of the incoming seasonal turn, their warmth sapped from them as they descended to the charred, flattened streets. The early arrival of the chill was removed by the biting gnaw of the flames' roiling warmth.

Armin was slowly losing it, and he knew it too. His mind was an unstable whir of pulsing, squirming thoughts that egged him on and on even when his fragile body longed to quit. His stinging heart beat in a tainted rhythem that further bruised his fractured ribs and breathing felt nigh on impossible. His fingers shook uncontrollably whenever he sat idle and his vision blurred out on occasion.

He was thankful for Annie deciding to comply with the madness of his new ploy willingly this time around, but she could never fully understand the state of the world as it is with the way she sees things; let alone perceive the complicated workings of his crippled brain. If it wasn't for his honorable sense of self-restaint, he would have grilled her for being so damned cowardly and blind at times. Of course he wouldn't deliberately try to escape her after all of the kindnesses she demonstrated, but he still had his plans to leave at some time or another. Or at the very least, keep her from doing something horrible or selfish with Dr. Jaeger's findings in his basement. Armin had almost totally forgotten that they were heading for Shiganshina sometimes.

But that would have to wait for now.

The boy paused atop another smoldering building that was further damaged from a Titan falling on one side of it at some point. The crackling boards snapped underneath his footing but never gave way. He pursed his broken lip and rolled his left shoulder, his still-mending arm throbbing powerfully. He tip-toed down the sloping roof while watching his steps and observing the citizenry as they struggled for the last bid of their lives, crying out like squealing mice in a confined room of starving cats. He needed to rescue them in order to gather and place the materials needed for the first phase of the plan, but it was entirely up to Annie to save them.

_These people just never, ever, ever have it easy._

In the past five years, they've had the worst misfortune to experience since god knows when. Every terrible, scary thing that could ever happen to them did happen after all. Some of their worst fears were realized once the refugees of the south had started pouring in in droves, everything going all to hell not long after. Armin's sympathy for them only seemed to grow the more he pondered about it.

The King treated the subjects of the outer rings with impunity for far too long and surely the people had noticed, but the damage was irrevocable. Scarcity has been forced upon the residents of the desecrated district, the city beyond the hopes of all recovery. Trost was believed to be the crown achievement to mankind's first ever gloria over the Titans; but despite this impressive title, it has fallen onto poverty and lean times. Tax increase and corruption have gone through the roof, crime is almost too routine and abound, the giants attacked and decimated the district and nearly unleashed a new plague therefore, inflation occured during recovery efforts; the entire nine yards.

It was weird enough that some of the denizenry here have heard tell of a new rebellion coming to rise. These were things that may have been a reaction to the death and/or disappearance of the merchant in charge, Reeves senior himself; although to be honest, no one is absolutely sure is true. All they knew was that the Scouts had made a big stink of something within the interior but even then that came apart once the Titans appeared inside Sina. Trost received the message of what has happened to the aristocratic barrier and were told to fortify the gate upon hearing this. Despite all that, they were still attacked some several hours ago, leading to the mess that's happening now. They were trapped within their own home, with no place to evacuate to and no hope to carry them through this adversity.

And now, for all Armin knew, the only survivors that were left were the frightened peasants he had within his sight right now.

_This ugly world continues to deal some poor cards to some even poorer people._

Now, the hand-full of surviving citizens were sitting beneath the crumbling world, trying to make use of the underground system in order to save themselves. The Titans outside were struggling to reach into it but fell short of their wriggling prey. Cowering as a group against the furthest stretch of wall they could cluster up against, they sat helplessly awaiting their death, watching the brutes as they fingered their way in up until their shoulders were scraping against the aperture. It was only a matter of time before the smaller Titans would find this shelter too and breach it as well.

Women and children whimpered endlessly as the men clutched at either their families or make-shift weaponry. Some were crouched onto the stone flooring with hands clamped around their skulls while moaning in despair whilst others cried out for the gods' divine intervention. It was terrifying to accept, but some of these people here had seen this day happen before only mere months ago, in the initial siege. It was a known fact that lightning strikes the same target twice but no one could anticipate a second Titan attack on Trost.

Considering that there wasn't a single breach in sight, it was more than just a _little_ surprising. It was reminiscent of the mysterious appearance of the Titans in Rose's walls weeks ago before Reiner and Bertholdt's betrayal.

At this point, the over-large hands of the fleshy devils retreated back after many fruitless hours of trying to reach them, giving the people a fluttering moment of reprieve. Suddenly, a few seconds later another more violent set of twisting limbs extended further inward, making the frightened group flinch back and trip over themselves. The longer set of bonier limbs had failed to find their target at least, but it wouldn't be long now. Alternatively, it seemed that the Titans are individually trying their luck in finding their quarry, switching each other out in the vain hopes that they can reach their prey eventually.

Armin frowned at this as he restlessly paced around, his startlingly bright stare luminous in the darkened world of unerring heat and crusting blood. Anxious as he was, he knew that he must be patient while he waited for Annie to get into position. Wherever she went the Titans will surely follow; her roar all the distraction they need as the Female Titan effectively replaces the weary sobs below as bait.

_Sorry about this crummy job, Annie. Making you the lure was the last thing on my mind but if we want to get to Eren's basement or wherever so badly, we 'll have to take this necessary evil._

Armin didn't have to wait too long thankfully; he knew that the warrior girl was in position once he heard the opening sign of their plot: The buzzing snap of rumbling energy ripped through the town and drowned out the sound and sight of the hissing fires and wailing life, the world briefly dying itself pale green for a single ear-shattering second. It certainly grabbed the Titans' attention for a moment, but they lost interest in that literally seconds later since their human targets were more captivating to their fish-brained ways.

Armin tossed a look over at the side of the wall that seperated them from Maria's lands, searching for any sign of the Ape Titan. He was sure to have heard the transformation, but he has failed to appear despite his anticipated path that was sure to lead him to this burning town. Armin twitched his nose at this and gazed lazily back at the Titans themselves, not at all surprised by their unusual behavior anymore. If the past week- ...well, months were anything to go by, its that to expect the unexpected from a Titan, no matter what type it is.

_Anytime now._

The boy moved to the more stable side of the building and shuffled his limbs, his fractured arm biting at him enough to make him wince. His side had flared up again, but at this point, he had all but given up on healing completely. The tense knots bunching up in his shoulders had him fidgeting constantly. His life was shortening considerably with every day that crept by, his exposure to the elements beyond the safety of the walls robbing years from him.

That's when he heard it.

The Titans lifted their hideous heads and listened intently as a new noise punctuated through the immeasurably warped reality, jaws going slack and eyes bleary. That screech was by far one of the most terrifying noises Armin didn't think a Titan could possibly make; let alone a Titan _shifter_, and produced by _Annie _no less. It sounded like a dying animal to put it bluntly, but even that was a horrible comparison. It went far beyond what a withering creature's last desperate call into a fathomless unknown is capable of; it was a summoning of a deeper resolution. It was meant to be heard by all as a means of relaying a warning to some, and a call for help by others.

But not this time; this time it was a means of Annie drawing the beasts to herself, and by the sounds of it, she was no stranger to gathering the horde in its terrible entirety.

Surely enough, the sinfully gluttonous bastards were stomping across the cracked street at a fervent and hurried pace; their intentions all but clear. Some even tripped over themselves in their excitement and compelled the others behind them to do the same, creating a humorously messy tumble of varying-sized Titans that clawed at one-another. One even went to the trouble of biting at another larger variant and stepped all over it in order to get free. The screaming frenzy flocked to Annie's location in way that sickened the boy as well as unnerved him, but it had at least left Armin alone with the confused people in the shelter.

It was a great first start to his plan, but he wondered if it will continue to work out that way.

_Thank you again Annie. I'll have to pay you back for that risk you've taken._

Muttering a small prayer for her well-being, he leapt from the slowly crumbling building and landed in a messy pain-ridden heap at the bottom, his side scorching at him with an immeasurable agony that burned like the fires in this town. He gritted his teeth and rose to his feet while trying to shake it off since he was on a timed clock. Suddenly, a caustic sensation soured his throat and belly and saturated his tongue with the god-awful taste of bile. Forcing back the rising surge in his esophagus, he gulped down ashen air and focused on the mission at hand: He had to get the civilians to follow him through the Titan-infested street and that will take some coercing and energy to do so. He can't approach them however if he was just going to vomit in front of them.

He had had enough embarrassing moments to last him a life-time.

Armin gave out a near-defeated sigh, not exactly sure as to how he could talk a group of mostly panicked women and children to stick it out for quite a few blocks in an open tangle of blackening streets. Drawing his blades in a somewhat absent manner as to give the impression that he was able to fight (which was a lie in some ways), he walked casually over to the entrance of the caved-in tunnel and rolled over the many things he could say to them, rehearsing the conversations ahead.

Meanwhile, the denizens had been all scared shit-less when they first heard the screech seconds before, and they were certainly unprepared for the oncoming steps that left them to believe a smaller Titan was coming. That changed the instant they saw a soldier peer around the corner in at them, taking a moment to gape at him initially in sheer shock as if he was far stranger than any of the Titans themselves. After spending a terse moment realizing that he wasn't an enemy, the majority were all grinning and weeping in pained relief, welcoming the legionnaire.

Some of the men however looked skeptical as to his advent intervention, obviously weighing in his unusual appearance and tired bearings in question. To be honest, all these people knew was that a _living _soldier was coming to save them, but the older individuals weren't fooled; they were being rescued by a _boy_. He looked more than just odd at first glance too; he wasn't even wearing a full uniform at all with the exception of his Scouts' coat draped over his shoulders and backside. Blood stained the sordid shirt on his left side in a vibrant splash, contrasting against the formerly white article. He had bandages wrapped around his right eye and head, and his skin color was much too pasty to be normal. Sweat ran down his person in rivers and he was obviously ailing. He was a puny whelp that was in need of some medical care himself.

Armin knew what they were thinking upon seeing this, so he tried to remain as collected as possible. He kept a false smile plastered to his face to keep his spirits up, leveling his voice in a modulated tone in an attempt to placate them.

_Here goes nothing._

"Hey. Is everyone here ready to get the hell out or what?" He started with.

A woman who was of a modest older age and size approached him first and beamed at him all too eagerly. Sweat and tears created dirty trails on her soot-covered face and her hands shook too much. Armin shifted uncomfortably at the sight, feeling the weight of his next responsibility already. She did not seem to notice the boy's physical limitations nor his hesitation.

_-God, I hope we're not as fucked as I feel right now. I wish I could just lay down and sleep in some quiet place._

_...That'll only happen when I'm dead though._

"Thank the goddesses," She mumbled at first. "You have no idea of how long we've been waiting for someone to show up! We tried to evacuate but our paths were cut by either those infernal beasts or the fires. We headed towards this place since its a detour, but as you can see, we couldn't use it when those Titans managed to find it and block our path out of here." She wrinkled her tiny nose at this, her hands and fingers twisting together in a show of fidgeting. "I didn't think that they were so smart, but we still have gotten ourselves in quite a mess. The army wasn't even _here _to slow them down to start with."

That chilled Armin down to his already frayed nerves as he heard this.

_The military deserted this place? Why?_

"-So we've been down here for _hours _and some of us here had already given up on help arriving overall," she added in a despondent tone.

Armin lowered his blades and tried to make himself appear better-abled. He sounded surer than he felt as he cut with, "That's about to change. I have someone securing the area as of this moment and it leaves us with the chance to-"

"-You're not even a soldier! Just look at that uniform! How can we trust you?" A man with more than just a few cuts and a impaired sense of judgement stomped over and wailed.

"If you would just let me-"

The injured man continued his fit as he threw at the stuttering boy, "You said that you have _someone_, like as in singular, holding the place down. You mean to say that its just you and _one _other person here?"

"Look, we really need to-"

"You've got to be kidding me! How can you and your friend even help, especially since we have no confirmation of the fact that you're even soldiers at all?!" the grizzled man interjected again. It made Armin flinch. "Well we aren't _that _stupid, boy. That roar out there just now belonged to a _monster_; not a Titan. You said a friend was helping out but how can we go out there knowing that? I haven't forgotten about hearing how humans can turn into Titans these days!"

"Gerald! They're only here to help!" A younger and more petite woman sharply ordered just as it was getting out of hand. She grabbed the half-delusional man's arm in a grip not unlike Annie in some ways and imputed with a hint of warning, "-He's trying to tell us that we should go before those overgrown bastards get back and you're just runnin' your mouth like always! So shut your damned gob and let the soldier get us _and_ your pathetic arse out of here!"

Armin had to keep himself from snorting hysterically at that; this was not the time for ill-placed humor. He had to keep the smile out of his expression and looked between the anxious crowd and let his brain work itself into overdrive again. He had to recapture their trust and attention.

He then said, "Everyone, just _please _trust me on this; the Titans won't even come after you if we go now. My friend is more of a professional than you think. And for your information-" He gave the shivering man direct eye contact at this, "Yes, my ally is a shifter. But she is a professional with an affinity for combat. She'll sort out our Titan troubles as we escape."

"How?" asked the older woman in front of him. "Does it have the do with why they suddenly left like that...?"

_Not an incorrect observation._

The boy gesticulated towards the Titan-free exit, avoiding her question. "Look, how about we save the explanations for when we get to a safe place? My partner and I have a way of removing the Titans in this town. It'll be fortified too in the end if we work together on this."

The people muttered to themselves at this, sounding rather dismissive but hopeful. Armin wished that they wouldn't debate this here but he was glad to see one of them walk up and say, "Just get us out of here... please. I don't even care what's going on anymore but we all just want to be safe."

_Me too._

Armin ordered, "Let's not waste anymore time then. If we hurry we'll be able to get to the Garrison headquarters without having to see another Titan."

"Why can't we just run to the boats?" someone else interjected.

He sighed inwardly. "-Because, there isn't anyone manning the evacuation efforts, ultimately rendering the boats useless. Besides that, there is literally no other place to evacuate too outside of Trost's walls."

Cue the crowd gasp.

He ignored the interruption, "-And the entire land outside is in turmoil right now, so going to the inner sanctum isn't viable for any and all of us. Stick with me and you'll not only be safe but filled in later on too."

A brunette haired girl suddenly rushed up to him, surprising the boy. She snagged his injured arm- making him jump and suck in air between his teeth... and looked him dead in the eye. He quickly deduced that she was a tender age of around six as she implored, "Is that a promise mister? You and the Titan lady will save us?"

_Titan lady...?_

The lass tugged at him as he silently measured that costly assurance. Armin had to settle for smiling at her and giving the entire crowd the answer that they all wanted to hear since his arrival. He saluted proudly in answer, putting up a brazen front for show, knowing that more lies will be leaving his lips again.

Fuck.

"I swear it on my life," was his words.

But he knew; it was another bull-faced fib and another person to disappoint. The odds of getting to the headquarters without losing even a single individual was _dreadfully _low and probably nonexistent for all he knew. However, the risk has always been there and it will always remain that way in this corrupted hell they lived in.

And it seemed, that will never change.

_God help us all._

* * *

~000~

Armin lead the dawdling entourage past the twisting curls of lashing hell-fire, sprinting down the winding streets toward the Garrison headquarters. The people below him were a slow bunch that was sure to be even better bait than his-so-called partner in question but at least they were making steady progress. The only real problem was for him to keep an eye out for the danger and give them the heads-up if something was indeed detected. Worse case scenario would end with him distracting a Titan or even engaging it. With this in mind, he settled for running on the iffy rooftops on the way there in an attempt to guide them, eye-balling the brutes dashing by harmlessly.

It was just too bad that the headquarters were still so far away.

Huffing furiously against his strained smoke-filled lungs, he tasted the charred and rotting odors of the people and buildings themselves; the smell being just that acrid. His ribs stabbed at his sides and his waist pulsed constantly, reminding the boy of his infirmities. Armin could feel the warm slick of fluid coating his skin and bandages again but there was nothing he could do about it; it was bad enough that he can barely even keep his one single eye open. He clumsily went from one collapsing structure to another and did his damnest to ignore his aggravated and inflamed injuries.

_Dammit. I'm so tired... _

As he marched on with the frightened people gasping for breath below, he could see the Titans moving across the town in a mad frenzy from his vantage point. The good news was that they didn't even stop to glance at the citizens _once_ much to the boy's frail relief. The stampeding giants were fixedly focused on wherever the shifter was located and yes the townspeople had seen their new and questionable behavior but none had been bold enough to speak of the development. Glad to have Annie on his side for a change he suppressed a smirk and kept on going while darting his eye in every direction.

The one thing he couldn't shake was the fact that the Beast Titan had _most certainly _seen the transformation; but why he has yet to appear was something that worried the boy immensely.

Still some several blocks away from the destination, Armin noted a nine-meter stomping dangerously _close _to the civilians, its slanted eyes rolling all around in its sunken sockets and its footing on the very verge of falling. It seemed that the beast was still dedicatedly trying to go where Annie was but it paid no never-mind to whatever was around it. He landed on another unremarkable building and yelled at the people to get out of its way.

"Everyone! Go to your right! Down the alley!"

The winded group below watched as the boy pointed out a more enclosed route that branched from the main road, but it was sure to conceal them from the drunkenly-swaying creature. They wasted no time in hustling over to it and disappearing from the street just as the nine-meter leapt onto the road. Armin rounded on the Titan then, drawing his blades up almost level with his drumming heart, hoping that the thing would simply pass him by.

That's when it came to a lurching halt, Armin's heart doing the very same as it paused.

He watched as the Titan remained idle for a few fluttering few seconds as if it debated something in that impossibly ill-proportioned skull. Both he and the beast seemed to freeze, the former scout surveying the opposing enemy with a scrutiny that yielded no answer as to why it even stopped in the first place. Another moment later, it shuddered from head-to-toe like Sasha on a food-eating crime spree and turned to stare the boy down.

_...Huh? What the hell is it doing? I thought it was concentrated on Annie?_

The Female Titan's call now long forgotten, it had started _sprinting _right at Armin in a frenzy of flying limbs and jutting teeth. It had heard him yelling, and now its seen him too.

"...Oh fuck me."

He didn't waste anytime in launching another grappling hook into a neighboring tower, swinging rather wildly away from the unpredictable monster. It had just barely missed him by increments, so the flyaway debris was pouring down on him in shards and drawing fresh blood from shallow cuts appearing on his flushed skin. Its reached out its thin hands and tried to latch onto his fleeing form and wire while snarling in frustration as it did so. Armin circled around its head and banked to the left, drawing its eyes up towards himself further as to protect the runaway citizens. This had worked a little too well for his taste but it meant that the plan can go along once he somehow escaped from this predicament.

The brute attempted another grab but the boy merely strafed to the side some more and landed on an unstable building with several smoldering holes in it and smoke bellowing out its patchy roof. A hot flash seized at him then, his stomach flipping over itself as if someone had just ripped it out of him and wadded it up before shoving it back into his torso again. He coughed and barely had the strength to jump away again as the Titan balled up its fist and brought it full-force onto the building he stood on. The entire structure collapsed in a hideous cry of noise, right down to the very foundation below.

_God dammit. I need to shake this thing before I fall too far behind._

Remembering that he needed to be right beside the civilians, he quickly deduced the most correct course of action all the while avoiding the increasingly angry Titan. It kept unhinging its jaws during its tizzy and groans evolved into growls as Armin hovered in and out of reach. It was almost funny, but not so much so whenever its hands came in too close for comfort.

That's when the boy fled into the adjacent block and proceeded towards the tallest tower in an effort to lead the pissy beast. Thankfully enough (to some extent anyway) it tailed him persistently until Armin began to scale the crumbling building, his body hollering at him about its glaringly-apparent agony. Fighting the creeping blackness bleeding into his vision he was able to find a high enough elevation that exceeded the Titan's reach, turning to watch as the said nine-meter paused to claw at the stony sides.

_Now to confuse it._

The former scout began to run across the sides in as a vertically straight line as possible, tempting the beast to further its chase. The Titan certainly followed suit and circled the tower's base while trying to keep its vision locked onto the boy squarely. Armin lost some of his height doing this, but it gave the Titan the motivational push that it needed to compel it to do as the he wished. He ran around the building until he was on the opposing side, leaping away before the stupid beast could even finish rounding the corner.

Armin hurried back to where he had departed from the original traveling party, his breath coming out in short jagged bursts and his wounds pulsing hotly. The build-up of sweat on his bedraggled form had left a wet film around the boy that left him with no doubts as to assure he reeked of fear and adrenaline. He ignored this of course, Armin then concealing himself behind a chimney in an meager attempt to gain some reprieve.

He observed as the Titan paced around the spire where he had ditched it, and was now rewarded with the most inglorious sight of a dumbstruck giant running laps around the tower while trying to locate its prey uselessly. It scratched at the stone as if to shake out its quarry next, remaining oblivious as to the boy's discreet departure.

To say the least, it looked _fucking _hilarious.

Stifling a dry chuckle he turned to leave, satisfied with the most recent avenue of opportunity. Armin rose and went on his way to rendezvous with his nearly-lost team, his concern over them replacing the ill-fitting humor felt from the giant's stint in activity. He had to really hustle and keep low beneath the roof-line in order to stay out of the Titans' sight since jumping out in front of them these days seems to draws them from the lure of Annie's summons.

Recalling the direction in-which the group had fled in, he hopped along the streets so to follow the alleyway where he had directed them earlier. He fought to keep his vision clear as he could make it despite the gnawing sense of fatigue biting at him all along the way. Soon enough he was able to spot the people waiting for him at the end of the alley and went to join them.

"We need to keep going," he informed them without a beat. "It won't stay distracted for much longer. We have to be in that building by the time it notices!"

He didn't wait for an answer nor a fatigued reply. Armin instead merely power-walked ahead of them and lead the fear-stricken crowd into the open streeets again, being sure to keep an eye on the Titan he had left behind all the while watching for the others. Willing for his limbs to cooperate, he forced himself into his airborne position and dashed across the rooftops once more. More than once he thought he was going to drop his blades considering their suddenly heavy leaden weight in his slimy sweat-filmed hands, and his fingers shook with increased fervor. However, he forced himself to press on with the genuine belief that he will last until they arrive at the Garrison Headquarters.

Less than a minute later, his ears caught the next tell-tale sign of his plan coming together: The screeching bellow of a Titan frenzy tearing themselves apart. Annie's command on the Titans had been stronger than originally perceived, and it couldn't have gladdened him more. She had ordered for the Titans to attack each other, and it certainly had not been above their nature; Armin remembered Eren telling him about the brutes attacking each other over their prey and this information had been what he had counted on.

_This should lower their numbers a bit... and hopefully draw out that stupid Ape Titan._

Feeling some energy return to his worn form, he continued to jump from one weakened structure onto the next, watching as the HQ came even closer into view. Armin though was no fool; he knew better than to get ahead of himself in some situations but even he had gotten caught up in the workings of the moment. It was within some couple of blocks from the entrance did things start to go into a more dramatic direction.

It was only from the corner of his blurring sight did he see it; the fleeting flash of an over-sized set of pallored digits reaching up to snag him.

On impulse, or a hidden instinct he didn't know he possessed, Armin maneuvered just enough so that the swipe had missed him in large part but it caught the wire in the process. This simple twist of his body was the only reason why he didn't die in that hazy split-second, but it had not been enough to get him out of the danger. He had the sense to clear the majority of the blow at the very least, but it still wasn't enough.

The next thing he knew, he was cartwheeling through the heated air at a speed he consciously knew would kill him, but accepted as he realized grimly that he couldn't hope to recover his momentum in midair. A resounding crash, an indistinct whir of smells and flickering lights, and a thudding spiral of pain was all he could detect thereafter. His consciousness deserted him for a fluttering minute but returned with a vengeance that left him yowling in fiery pain.

**Thud.**

The creature's footsteps were not heard so much as felt as an enormous reverberation shaking his entire body; rattling the broken bones in his pulsing flesh. Armin couldn't open his remaining eye to confirm what he already suspected; but he knew for certain that the Titan had figured out that he had tried to ditch it and naturally it was drawn to the large crowd he had been leading. It was now looming over him, presumably bending over to pluck him from the broken pile of blood-soaked debris where he lie. His eye was shut this entire time however, but he knew that this was in fact what was happening, and so he waited for death's final strike.

It was a pause that dragged on so slowly that Armin believed that it was just his disjointed brain trying to cope with the hopeless situation.

This long silence had puzzled him; puzzled him enough to prompt the near-dead soldier to try and lift his shivering arm to his sweat-glistening brow and swipe away some of the trailing carmine flowing over his remaining eye. When Armin managed to glance blearily up into where the Titan should be, he found nothing there at all.

_Where-?_

The scream of a panicking woman that arose only a short distance away was all the answer he needed.

He fought the tired grip of exhaustion and struggled to rise, but his body wouldn't have it. It had quitted in its over-all use and sleep fogged his warping sense of reality. Dropping back down to his rear, he shivered and forced the rising sensation of nausea back down into his clenching gut. Fighting the overwhelming urge to sleep, he gasped as he braced himself against some of the jutting debris and began to rise. He waste any time standing there in an effort to collect his thoughts as well; he was running blindly at the behemoth while drawing his blades level with his chest seconds later, largely unconscious of what he was doing.

A hook went flying into another dilapidated structure and it brought Armin into the air at a increasingly climbing speed. Baring his teeth, he swung around the Titan's waist and roared, not even taking into account who it is that the sinful glutton was trying to eat. He was aware of the fact that he couldn't hope to slice into the beast's nape with an arm like his, but he knew he _could _at least free the tiny figure wriggling in its grip.

Just as he was making a pass right by the Titan's fist, he drove his flesh-hungry blades home; a satisfactory blow that sent icy-hot fire back into his veins. The singing wail of hissing steel resonated across the surrounding block, followed by the ugly giant's choppy scream. Taking its time in fully releasing its prisoner, it gave Armin just enough ample time to demand his body to turn on a dime and retrieve the descending individual. It was an imperfect and clumsy catch that found him the victim of further injury, but at least his target was _alive_. The resulting tumble however only worsened the pre-existing injuries for the boy as he played cushion for the smaller-than-expected figure cradled in his arms.

Having ended the fall with him in a supine position, he shut his eye and groaned, tasting the crashing waves of copper and iron sitting heavy on his taste buds. He hardly noticed as the little girl left his side and was swept into an older woman's trembling embrace.

"Oh gods! Emily, are you hurt?"

Armin shifted onto his uninjured side and cracked an eye at the pair, recognizing the little girl who had approached him earlier. He hadn't realized that he had been rescuing her and it surprised him, but nonetheless he felt uncharacteristically proud of himself for doing so. Bracing himself against his good arm and barely sitting up, he released his blades as he studied the familial pair.

The pint-sized child fisted a clump of the older woman's dirty apron, chalk white in her complexion. All she could garble was at first some words that sounded like, "A-Auntie" before her voice gave. The shaken high-pitched quality of it indicated her abject fear that she was unlikely to shake off for the rest of her life. This sudden conclusion only tightened the strings around the boy's heart.

"I-I was... almost..."

"Shhhh."

For the first time in what felt like years, the boy was able to smile, no matter how faint or strained it was. Scared or not, the girl will live to see another day, even though her dreams were likely to be as nightmarish as the reality around them. Pulling himself from the pile of rubble he lay in, he forced his feet beneath him while sucking in ghastly ashen air in-betwixt his reddened teeth. His vision spun and blackened before he remastered himself and sat back on his calves, remembering the Titan he had so eloquently pissed off.

_Uh-oh._

He noted the Titan nearby, fingers having recovered already but it still seemed initially dumbfounded and shocked by the boy's rebellious act. Armin observed as it flexed its digits experimentally before turning towards the crowd again with an insidious glare contorting its features. It took a step in their direction with a hunched posture that betrayed what it was going to do next: Suddenly opening its spit-slathered maw and charging right at them, its fury plain to see.

Uh-oh indeed.

Armin glared right back at it and ordered the people to leave while he reclaimed his slightly-used blades. Drawing himself to his feet, he used his near-emptied adrenaline rush to try and blot out any other pain or injury he may have incurred. He raised his swords and was about to squeeze down on the twin triggers when something miraculous happened.

A surprise blur of motion left a splashing rain of almost-boiling carmine to pour over the plaza in a blinding veil, the heated fluid plastering itself haphazardly across the cowering individuals whimpering nearby. The group shuddered as they bore witness to the spectacular deluge of gore that the fight had ended in, their expressions a shared plethora of shock and fright. Armin hadn't anticipated a shower of hot blood to curtain both he and the denizenry but he was no less relieved to see the Titan come falling flat onto its own pinched-up face.

"What the hell is that!?" Cried out one of the men just outside of his vision.

_Thank Maria, Rose and Sina for that girl._

Armin didn't even have to see to know what- or rather _who _it was. The action of saving them had been a dead giveaway anyway. He had said in a flat tone, "That would be my partner," in answer to the somewhat rhetorical inquiry.

Ignoring the man's next outcry, he watched as Annie Leonhardt drew herself up to her fullest height and bore down on the pitifully squeaking people below. Her crystalline eyes glimmered orange in the lashing tongues of flame but it was in large-part expressionless. Her tousled platinum-blond hair settled around her angular skull in messy disarray, hissing blood dripping from her knuckles. With this image branded firmly into his mind, the boy perceived this display as a feral and yet picturesque visage that the warrior-girl had been carved and molded into perfectly.

Sad as it was, it was oddly beautiful.

Pushing that intrusive thought aside, Armin smiled up at her and shouted, "Thanks for the help, Annie! That could've gone in a whole other direction if you didn't intervene."

She said nothing of course, speech probably being a near impossibility for her in this form. However, she did dip her head in acknowledgment at the show of gratitude.

At this, Armin smirked a touch more before performing an about-face and announcing, "Let's get to that building people. It'll be easier from here on out with Annie here."

They said nothing to this, still trying to absorb the fact that they had been rescued by a fourteen-meter giantess. It was somewhat hilarious to watch, but Armin knew better. He went to join the frozen civilians in an attempt to continue their mission, now in a hurry to reach the structurally sound headquarters only a block away. His movements rearrested the crowd's attention on him, so they followed but were wary of the shifter behind them.

Sadly, not all could work out so smoothly when Armin didn't manage to even walk three feet.

His collapse had everyone reeling in tangible shock seconds later. The lad had felt his eyes roll upwards as the world spun rapidly around him for the last time, his pain-stricken extremities failing him in his exhaustion. The dizzingly over-whelming amount of relief gained from the appearance of Annie had completely disarmed the boy as sleeplessness and fatigue finally caught up to him. The debacle in the streets had left Armin a shivering mass of clammy flesh on the broken cobble, having pushed his physical form past its limits more than once that long night. He didn't see Annie's expression nor hear the little girl yelp in surprise, his brain feeling like it was swimming in molasses. His ears rang loudly as a scorching agony raced along his entire torso, his eye fluttering closed just as he witnessed some several pairs of feet heading towards his crumbled form.

And then he saw nothing at all.


	10. The Next Expedition

_**IMPORTANT Author's note: We finally have a chapter up; with Eren, Mikasa, Levi and others as its lead. Woopty fricking doo.**_

_I wanted to try something different with a POV change, considering that it is told in Eren's viewpoint. Tell me what you think afterward and you'll get more of the Jaeger-boy later on in future chapters. If it's bad, so what? I wanted a break in flow and this was the best way to do it after some SERIOUS thinking. I don't like what I spat out with, but it could be revised in the future. Maybe._

_And for the record, I don't ship Eren with Levi. I see that as just plain __**ADULTERY **__right there. Levi's 'older than 30' so says Isayama and Eren's 15 people. __**Don't bash on my opinion**__. Its a fact._

_Now enough of the jibber jabber. Let's read on._

* * *

~000~

_**Several Hours Earlier**_

Eren Jaeger stared vacantly at the floor, unable to meet his comrade's withering scowl.

His old 'friend' Jean Kirchstein was bellowing out his wrath in a way the shifter has never before seen. Sure he was no stranger to pissing off the teen in a way that normally annoyed most everyone else around him, the remainder only laughing it up at such a hilarious sight like Reiner had done in the past. Jean was good at blowing things out of proportion and spectacularly embarrasing himself in the process, but nothing about this quarrel was funny at all: Veins were throbbing in his temple and his ears were a whole new shade of red, his already thin eyes more slanted more than ever as he attacked Eren with an understandable rage that he could never fault the asshole for. Jean's mouth was a paper-thin slash as his brow furrowed far more deeply than usual; and it made Eren all the more uncomfortable. It was still no less annoying, but it was true and it was the only thing that kept Eren from bickering back.

And he would have loved nothing more than to say something else in edge-wise right about now.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jaeger?! Have you finally gone deaf or are you just that stupid?"

And to add, he had said that same line several times within the last few minutes. Whenever he stops making sense and he starts repeating the insults, it means he's at his limit in terms of rational thinking. The hot-headed Jean had already made his point, now it was time to rub it in.

Eren couldn't stand another second around the guy, and to be honest he was too tired too absorb the majority of his friend's words now, but what he could he say now after all that? Anger was a secondary and reflexive emotion that Eren normally invites, but it was a poisenous mix when tossed in with self-loathing and regret. He was more or less frustrated with himself anyway. What happened to everyone as of lately had been a good thing, in some part with Historia taking her place and all as Queen; it was a fact he still wasn't used too. What had happened to Armin however throughout the whole plight had been his fault as far as he was concerned due to his neglegence and inability to get to him when the big stinking Ape-thing attacked. He already felt like shit as it is, and Jean's pointed anger really wasn't helping his crappy sense of worth at all.

"WELL!?"

His ally's slightly deeper-than-expected voice had bounced around the tiny room with enough force to surely wake their friends and superiors else-where. Eren himself had jumped as a result of its concussive bellow, startled out of his quagmire of thoughts. This fight was sure to drag the very unwanted Levi out of his bed and bring him over to bitch at them in less than moments if Jean doesn't learn to control his emotions.

Like he was one to talk.

"Dammit Jean, I get it!" Eren had ground out, biting back the retort that soured his throat right after. He leveled his voice to a furious and rushed series of agitated murmurs to keep aforementioned captain in his room, "You've already spelled out my mistakes enough times as it is! I don't need you waking up the entire place because of something I already know!"

"And the meaning _still _doesn't seem to be sticking now is it?!"

The Titan shifter was fighting back his own rage as Jean said this, knowing that calm thinking was and still is the best way to deal with Kirchstein as he is right now. He had known this from past experiences and repeated motions of confronting the long-faced lad, flipping him over and reasoning out the sources of his childish frustrations each time. He wasn't successful every time in pinpointing his hatred but the source of this altercation was clear: Eren fucking Jaeger had once again proven how incapable he was as a friend to not only Armin but demonstrated how inactive he'd truly been during the intervention with the beast Titan-thing he had never even encountered; he'd been quite preoccupied in his defense. Still, it was bad enough that he had to dawn back on his own blunders from the last few years, and now it was a reoccuring madness that wedged a spike into his sickened heart.

The shifter recoiled, feeling the guilt claw at his chest and eternally sinking guts. Insults are normally something he could brush off, especially it they were the curtesy of Kirchstein, but this one fight hurt for some reason. Perhaps it was how the horse-faced bastard said it, or the fact that Eren had been next-to useless in last few attempts at taking both the Titans and the invisible forces concealed within their enormous shadow. The constant jabs at his nerves was never needed, but Jean was reproachfully snapping at him with interest that he wasn't about to let go. In truth, you could say that he was just trying to vent.

That sounded about right; Jean was a confrontational individual at times, but he wouldn't go dragging around and throwing his fury at people for no reason if he wasn't internally suffering himself. Eren suddenly came to this conclusion and felt his fury ebb away somewhat, almost feeling sorry the former cadet in front of him. Jean felt like shit over Armin's disappearance too and it had devoured at his core not unlike Eren. Maybe he could forgive this arguement and come to a truce with the jerk.

"Oy, what did I say about the noise level brats?"

Or not.

"Unlike you, the rest of the us are trying to fucking sleep, and your bitching isn't helping any," called out that sour, blood-freezing monotone.

Levi had seemingly materialized out of nowhere as he intervened, leaning against the wooden frame while leveling his signature milk-curdling scowl. It was more lined than ever, and a expression like that was more than enough to kill whatever both boys could have said next. Levi's stony eyes gave off some hard light as he strode carelessly over to his two brats in question, his lip curled unpleasantly and temper almost tangible.

Eren hung his head further at that infamous and indifferent stare, all the while Jean slumped tiredly himself next to him. "Sorry Captain," Eren apologized first. "I was just about to leave for bed..."

Jean quickly overcame his gaping surprise at Levi's intervention and added, "Yeah... I just... needed a friend to vent with before I do the same-"

_**BAM.**_

The strike had been quick; the surly captain blasting the air out of Jean's lungs with a single punch, even going as far as to grab the teen's hair and kneeing him in the abdominals. Jean wrapped his arms around his middle and coughed, but then Levi kicked him in the jaw and flung him across the floor before turning to Eren with that horrid all-consuming basilisk-like glare. The shifter knew better than to try and dodge or block Levi's attacks whenever he needed to be 'punished'; and it only made him angrier if he tried to resist. So Eren cringed just as he heard the distinctive rush of air that naturally followed the superior's fist, next feeling a crushing blow land on his face and snapping his nose out of place before he was drop-kicked to the wooden floor. Hitting said floor, Eren groaned and tasted the warm metal of blood on his newly bitten tongue and tried to blink away the lights flickering into his vision.

"Enough excuses," Levi cut in curtly while turning to look at the whimpering mess he dropped initially. "You too know better than to wake me up with your petty squabbles. Kirchstein, I think Jeager's had enough bullshit to choke on for the next year or so by the way, so you can either piss off or you'll be cleaning the latrines until you turn gray. Or... you could try to fight me instead."

"Noooo Sir-!"

The dour-faced droopy eyed captain jerked his thumb over his shoulder and hissed, "Now git while the gettin's good," with a distinctive venom in his voice. "And lock the door on your way out."

And just like that, Jean slunk off like Sasha who had just been caught in the food pantry, going as fast as his shaken legs could carry him.

That left just the moaning Eren and his superior in the darkened room, who was seemingly watching the boy and the floor as if someone hasn't mopped it right. It didn't help that there was now some droplets of splattered carmine staining the wood and even in the haze of agony Eren knew it would have to be cleaned up after Levi talked with him. The pause itself was just a little more than awkward than the young Scout would have welcomed, but it simply meant that Levi was trying to get his thoughts together. He waited on the wizened Titan slayer to speak more, eventually picking himself up off the floor and cracking his broken nose back in place and standing in anticipation.

Levi himself meanwhile looked a little odd for a split-second as if he was trying to puzzle out the world's deepest secret; a very slight nuance that Eren would have missed if it hadn't been for Petra's earlier admonishments regarding their 'lovable' captain. Levi then attempted to look less abrasive and unfriendly by slouching his shoulders and unfolding his corded arms, initially catching the boy off-gaurd. Eren thought he mistakened the change of expression on his strangely gaunt face, but he had simply plastered it back on and scowled some more. His relaxed posture did nothing to ease Eren's rampant thoughts however, even though now it was obvious that the older Scout wasn't as angry as he thought he was. It just so happened that the boys' arguement had woken the man up and put him in a foul mood.

A _really _foul mood at that.

"Jaeger, what the fuck were you and the horse fighting about?"

His quip _did _assuredly bring a subtly lighter air into the thick room, effectively compelling Eren to smirk for a fluttering second.

"We..." Eren found his voice rather adenoial and hollow-sounding; a gross combination that betrayed his feelings of inferiority. He had worked hard to find it and now it was just a whispery, thin and broken thing that couldn't convey what he was thinking accurately. It was absolutely pathetic and Eren quickly cleared his throat before saying, "-We were just discussing what happened to Armin while I was in that cave with Historia and her father is all, Sir."

"We're off-duty Jaeger. Drop the formality, and wipe your nose while you're at it."

_Really? Its weird enough you didn't threaten me with the chores yourself yet, and the beating was a little more mild than expected. But now no rank? Is he that tired?_

_...I guess we all are though._

"Ah, sorry then," The boy quickly amended, doing just as he was commanded. He looked at the blood resting on his fingertips as he dazedly explained, "Jean was mad at me for not noticing sooner that Armin has been hurting lately, prior to my capture."

"Oh?" Levi quirked an eyebrow at the statement, his face largely stolid.

"He told me-" Eren had to stop and swallow in order to reclaim his nerve; being alone with Levi always put him on edge. "-That Armin had been ill regarding the operations that pulled some of the MPs out into the open. He told me that Armin _killed _someone and he got sick about it. I think."

Levi nodded to this statement, his eyes like sheets of toothy metal. "He wasn't wrong," he added much to Eren's disgust. "Arlert had been distracted and unable to think well until I had to talk with the puny whelp. He was depressing enough as it is, let alone with this change in his nature."

_The captain had to talk with him?! What kind of friend does that make me?_

Levi must have noticed Eren's downcast change in expression, his lamentation plain to see, but the Squad Leader went on without changing his tone nor subject. "At any rate, he was able to perform his duties well when the hairy fuck-face came to get Annie. His plan managed to keep Leonhardt from being snatched into enemy hands, but at a cost."

Eren swallowed again and weighed the scenario he had been given, picturing the onsuing fight as Levi went on.

"-Arlert was cast out into the opposing side of the wall, just as we heard about Titans appearing there as well."

"But that's-!"

"I know," Levi placed his hand on his pinched brow, clearly getting a migraine from his rude awakening minutes before. "That horse's ass bitching at you about Armin wasn't thinking straight when he came to you, but he still wanted you to understand what it was that you missed. Recent events had all of us preoccupied in most part so its understandable-"

"No its not," the boy interjected with, feeling his heart stutter at the thought of not acknowleging Armin lately. "-A real friend would have seen his best friend suffering, whether it was internal or not. And really, I should have done more to get there as fast as I could."

Levi merely regarded the statement with a slight shrug before saying, "That's your problem and opinion. What I'm telling you is that you couldn't have done much when the Beast-fuck attacked and you were _miles _away."

"But Armin was-"

"Jaeger," inputted his superior seriously. "Armin was fine after he accepted that certain consequences had to be made while we pursued this whole king debacle. For that matter, this fight with the Titans would certainly involve casualties both inside the wall and out." He inclined his head and sternly added, "What he did to cope with his own personal feelings as well as carrying out his job to stop the attack in Stohess was perfectly professional. As for where you stand, you shouldn't have to worry about it being your fault at all. This is _not_ the case and I know you're not so stupid as to think otherwise."

Eren blinked at him and lowered his gaze.

"-So put this shit out of your head and get back into it," Levi ordered. "We all can't be moping around for when the shit hits the blades. Am I not clear here?"

"...Yes sir."

Feeling that he had made himself clear enough, Levi moved his weight from one foot and into the other, watching Eren in some leveled scrutiny. He blinked impassively and said, "Good. Now as a disciplinary measure-"

Eren gulped audibly.

"-I want you to clean this floor up before you hop off to bed. You'll get more work in the morn-"

A stomach-flipping _CRASH _had Eren jumping out of his skin, his hand on impulse rising up part-way as Levi seemed to groan audibly in response. The sound was alarmingly similiar to that of a Titan trying to break into the house, but both the shifter and the superior apparently knew that this wasn't the case once Eren calmed his jacked up nerves.

Levi snorted as he mumbled, "That racket could only mean-"

"Guys!"

"Shitty glasses," Levi faced the willowy woman that just burst into the room like the door hadn't even been locked in the first place. "I'm kinda busy here, so what the hell do you want? And seriously, we have to pay for everything _you _break every time you do something insanely stupid like bust down the damn door. There was a reason why it was locked."

"That's _Commander _Shitty-Glasses to you mister," she toothily retaliated. "And does it look like I give a hoot about the property damages we incur?"

"-That _you _incur you Titan-obsessed-"

"Look! I don't have time for this," She strode over to them in two quick strides and handed Levi a sheet of paper, sweat dribbling down her throat. "-We just got an important message from the brass; its about Trost and the sudden incident that took place there."

"What?" Both Eren and Levi echoed in unison.

"The town..." She dolefully inputed. "Moblit ran an errand for me there while I proposed an ingenious idea of killing the Titans with-"

"Get on with it."

"Oh! Right, ah, well Moblit came back with a message from a dying courier who was struggling to report to us about the situation there. They say it has been attacked," she added with a hooded look. "-Again, but this time from the _inside_."

"What?" Eren dumbly asked. "That can't be right! Trost was meant to be safe-"

"I know, I know Eren. Its a shock to me too," She went on, her hands flying to her scalp and pulling her loose, unruly hair back. "I'll explain the details once you get everyone up. We need to discuss this- because this is something BIG that needs to be handled like right now. Every Scout in this place has to be up and at 'em Jaeger."

The message couldn't have been clearer; Eren was suddenly bolting from the room to fetch every individual that was asleep on the premises. He didn't like the idea of waking up Mikasa since she hardly slept these days herself; Armin's disappearance having left her in near shambles. If anything, both he and Mikasa couldn't care less about anything else right now except finding the flaxon-haired friend of theirs, but a plausible Titan threat from the only other secure haven outside of Shina will further hurt Historia's reign. He never wanted to say it, but this instance may be just a little more important then one missing soldier. Men that vanish in a fight with an unknown enemy was freakishly common, but Armin was more than one, average soldier.

_He's my best friend, and not even Hell itself will stop me from finding him. Even if Annie is somehow involved with Armin's disappearance, it doesn't matter even then; I'll KILL her and still get him back._

_Even if it kills me._

* * *

~000~

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT!"

Jean was murderous at this moment upon hearing the horrid news about the town he had been born and raised in. He looked rather intimdating with that dark and enraged expression consuming his face, like he was contemplating homocide. Multitudes of them.

The eccentric Commander's good cheer was absent at the moment for obvious reasons; she merely gesticulated towards the map of Humanity's walled-in territory with a stony expression settling on her face that was uncharacteristic of her. "We really don't know everything yet," she began. "But I do know for sure that Trost was sealed behind its own barriers when this attack took place. We were still on high alert from when the Beast Titan attacked Stohess and they were distinctively told to seal their perimeter to keep the Titans from invading them from Rose's confines itself."

"So when did this happen _exactly_?" inquired Eren.

"Some time during the afternoon or morning, I think some sixteen hours or less ago," Moblit answered next to Hanji. "It was a fairly long time before we got this report because almost all of the messengers, couriers, and fellow Scouts were intercepted by the Titans that were suddenly appearing within the wall's territory. We were lucky we even found _one _man to get this to us at all."

Levi was heard muttering an expletive close by, everyone else turning to glance at each other in helpless concern. It had been strange that the usual influx of refugees had been oddly slim after the first reported sighting of a lumbering giant in Rose, but as for Trost and the other districts to be consequentially cut off from them was another matter entirely. Add in the possibility of Annie getting loose and one would find this an overwhelming experience.

"Then that would mean everyone there is dead now, right?" Connie asked as he trembled at the thought of the time it took for a whole town to vanish. It was obvious that he was thinking about Ragako when it too had been attacked from the inside.

Jean was seen making an twisted expression at the suggestion Connie offered but he knew that the bald trainee merely understood the pain of losing said home. Eren himself as well as Armin and Mikasa also had a similar burden to shoulder.

_Dammit Jaeger; you're thinking about Armin again. Snap out of it._

"Hmm. Maybe," Hanji shrugged. "But it still doesn't mean we can't go in and investigate the place and render backup if necessary to the remaining Garrison there."

Sasha held up her hand like she was in the classroom all over again, going on to say, "So what's the point in going out there to secure the town if its all gone? Won't we lose some of our forces getting there?"

The Commander was seen waving off the discouraging comment that had Eren shrinking in his seat. Almost with a flippant dismissal of the statement she firmly asserted, "Please miss Braus. It is not the first time that the Scouting Regiment has gone off into Titan-infested territory to build outposts there. If we reclaim Trost, we will have a more solid foundation to stand on as we relay messages to each other as well as stock up for the Shiganshina trek. Doing this will help give us a launching point for when the main mission happens. Moreover, reclaiming some lost land will get some of the citizens out of the underground and Shina, lowering the overcrowding. Its priority that we bring them back into their homes; there are lots of riots breaking out in the interior from the evacuation as we speak."

Her expression only got darker as she entreated in detail, "We have no other choice but to do this. Performing this mission will further citizen morale and support for Historia, as well as give us some leg room so we could properly retaliate, which is our main objective. Other than that," she was seen placing her hands on her hips and grinning just slightly. "-We have a plan to deal with the Titans within Rose's boundaries and its being done right now. It'll help clear out the Titans and get us back our land!"

"We do?" both Connie and Sasha inquired.

A vigorous nod was their confirmation while the crazed Superior smashed her hands together. "Yes! A weapon that we are hurriedly constructing just outside the gates that pulls in any-size Titan in and crushes their nape with a large _BAM_!"

Moblit held up his finger up in admonishment to her statement, "-However, we still aren't sure if it works yet; its an idea that's being played with and experimented-"

"Moblit!" Hanji rapidly spun on the ball of her heel and grabbed her underling by his shoulders, startling him. "Don't doubt the genius that this invention is! Its all we got after all."

Mikasa was seen rising from her seat next to Eren, surprising him. She rarely spoke up other than to reply to someone's comment, but she was observed saying, "What of the Beast Titan itself? He had to have been the one who did all this. The same thing regarding the mysterious appearance of the Titans in Rose a while ago and the incidents in Ragako and Stohess are correlated to its activity."

More mumbling and nods of agreement were exchanged as Hanji was seen removing herself from the nervous Moblit and placing a hand on her chin in contemplation. "You could be right Ackerman," she grumbled. "But if that's the case then engaging him- the Ape Titan anyway, could be suicide." She then brightened considerably as she inputted with that crazed gleam flickering back into place, "-Ooorrr we could try to-"

"We are _not _catching it four-eyes," Levi threatened warningly. "Are you thick in the head or just insane?"

"We shouldn't even be considering the idea of catching it when we should be killing it!" Jean barked. "This thing is a menace and it probably can and _will _try to finish us all off. We need to get rid of that thing right now!"

"Kirchstein, please," Hanji held up her hands placatingly. "I was only musing something aloud here. I know how dangerous this thing is... and you're right. We need to dispose of this threat before it causes any more strife. He's done more damage to us than the Colossal Titan ever did breaking down the gates of two tiny districts."

That was still a _considerable _amount of damage to measure in in the shifter's opinion, but pragmatically speaking the Commander wasn't incorrect. The mere mention of the behemoth however had Eren's blood pressure jumping all around the place, not to mention leaving him to clench his fingers so tightly that he nearly broke the skin on his palm. He wasn't the only one either; Mikasa was notedly lowering her eyes and allowing her ebony fringe to cover her hellish scowl. Her teeth showed themselves briefly but vanished as their higher-ups tittered on.

"So," Hanji continued despite the mumbling in the room. "I'm orchestrating a plan of action here; another expedition to the district in an effort to get it back. It will be rather rag-tag and last minute but with the rights elements here, it will work." She suddenly squinted as she said, "The Long-distance Enemy Detection formation... Geez we need to think of a shorter name; will keep us from encountering any trouble as we head there. But then again, this is a given if we do not encounter miss Leonhardt along the way... We still have no idea if she's even _in _Rose for that matter. For now though, the _real _danger will be what we find in Trost upon arrival."

The silence was an indicator to go on.

"So," She held up a long pointer to the map display just as Moblit dutifully flipped the paper right on que. "-With this in mind, we're going to head out as soon as we can, tomorrow afternoon to be exact. The preparations will have to befinished within the next hours.

"So here's what we're going to do-"

* * *

~000~

The following hours later, Eren had found himself quickly throwing some of their equipment together with Mikasa to help him with some of the larger weapons. Not too far from him, Connie and the others were doing the same thing methodically, placing all kinds of gear into the wagons with Jean and Sasha beside him. Hitch and Marlo were saddling the horses with some of the newer scouts not so far away. All of this work would have to be done in due haste; right before the sun reached its highest zenith: Or at least until Levi came to check on them soon.

Which didn't sit well with Eren at all.

In retrospect, this expedition had came all too quickly for their comfort, considering that they were supposed to be training for the Shiganshina mission in some months or less; two or three to be exact. Eren himself was supposed to be practicing his hardening ability but this rescue operation had been deemed dire and immediate. If one would consider the other far-off districts in the surrounding Rose barrier that were unscaved and Trost being the only one that had been attacked, it had seemed awfully strange; even wrong. The ill-fated populace was the only one brought under siege by enemies both unknown and impossible to fight twice within the same year. He was no genious, but Eren felt like the attack had been no coincidence nonetheless. Annie's liberation may or may not have something to do with it but there was no way of knowing for sure. The scout paused in his ministrations to reflect on what has transpired, trying to better understand why this occurrence even happened.

...The Beast Titan attacked Stohess within a couple of days after the first Titans appeared within Rose and took Annie's shard. Armin proceeded to stop him and fell to the other side of the wall with the crackling crystal. The next morning, the Beast was gone as well as Annie and Armin; the evidence of the girl's awakening being located some half a dozen meters from the wall's base. There were gigantine footprints and scorched earth that informed the Scouts that Annie had indeed transformed in order to flee, and there had been no sign of Armin's body near the area. It was presumed Annie took the boy with her but even then that didn't seem to make sense; Annie had no use for Armin in the least.

Or did she?

Some several feet away, Eren had heard the distinctive _clonk_ of fumbled metal and a curse following; it seemed that Jean had dropped one of the hook canons used to hold Titans in place. The long-faced teen sat back on one of the wagons and rubbed his throbbing foot while spitting a myriad of expletives. Trost's fate has apparently had an effect on Jean, who fretted over the welfare of his parents living there. His crazed ravaging of their chore and distracted gesturing had people's eyes wandering over to him more often than not; and Eren couldn't fault the ass in the least. It was bad enough that Jean had been worrying over Armin not so long ago and had fought Eren over it.

"God dammit! That fucking hurt," he said for the fifth time that minute.

Sasha walked over to him and looked his foot over just as Marlo was seen picking up the tilted canon he had dropped. Connie and Mikasa strode over and assisted Marlo in trying to lift the hefty weapon into the cart.

"That's gonna bruise for a while-"

"Yeah no shit," Jean spat at the huntress. "Something else to add to the prognosis doc?"

Sasha gave him a sad look just as Connie groaned nearby and snapped towards him, leaving poor Marlo and the unfazed Mikasa with the over-sized burden. Showing his teeth, he then in a hostile manner tossed at him, "The hell has been up with your crappy attitude lately anyway? Don't direct it at Sasha just because you're pissed off at the world!"

"Can it Springer! I wasn't even talking to you!" Jean rose from his seat on the wooden rail, momentarily grimacing as his foot protested to his posturing.

The two advanced on each other briefly, squaring their shoulders and hands curling slowly into fists. Mikasa however had finished throwing the thing into the wagon and picked them both up by their shirt collars without warning, stopping the fight before it could even begin. Her fingers curled into their flimsy articles like a cat's claws, her eyes equally as piercing.

"Knock it off, the both of you," she hissed lowly. "We need to finish our work before Captain Shorty gets back."

Eren let out an involuntary snort just as Hitch began to giggle as well.

_What the hell Mikasa. Seriously?_

"Okay! Okay okay, just put me down already!" Connie flailed helplessly. "I was just telling Jean to lighten up is all! Really!"

Mikasa seemed to weigh his comment flatly before relinquishing her hold. Her stare was warning enough though for everyone to not try to fight each other for future reference. Jean was red-faced from embarrassing himself in front of her while Connie was mostly intimidated by her stoic nature.

Eren meanwhile turned his gaze away from the scene just as Mikasa returned to her position beside the boy, her own eyes now downcast and her hands working themselves dedicatedly but restlessly. It was the only other outward sign of her impatience besides her apparent flare of anger at Jean and Connie's counterproductive behavior. Her lips stuck out more and her shoulders slumped as she assisted Eren, her exhaustion making her move sluggishly. The odd temptation to help ease her nerve made his neck burn; something he chalked up to the rising sun's increasing temperature.

Finishing with one wagon they moved in unison to the next, almost done with their chore. They didn't say a word to each other, but there was no need to; Mikasa understood him so well it seemed as if Eren was transparent to her. It normally bothered him somehow, but this was no longer the case. They moved fluidly from one task to another, but even then the close knit warmth of their familial connection and closer contact didn't seem to heel the internal pain that built itself a solid foundation in their guts. At some point Eren thought he mistakened the ghostly touch of her fingertips brushing his as they picked up the next object, but he kept his somber eyes locked onto the hook canon they carried.

After moments of terse silence, their comrades broke into snatches of conversation close by, the subject arrested on the theorized activity of the Beast Titan and his familiars. Eren ignored this of course, feeling that discussing Reiner and Bertholdt's possible involvement in the attack on Stohess would simply put him in a fouler mood. Mikasa froze once, but did no more as the subject slid across from one person to another.

"I hear that Historia's pretty peeved about not going," Sasha bantered on nearby. "I think its because she wants a chance to find Ymir though, dont'cha think?"

"I certainly don't wanna find that bitch. I'm more worried about the other freakin' shifters wandering about out there." Connie seemed to genuflect on something that stilled his ministrations, his brows creasing in a despondent stare. He was barely heard muttering, "Do you think it was Reiner or Bertholdt is doing this? The recent attacks on Trost and Stohess maybe?"

Eren squinted at the thought of the other the shifters and their style of fighting. "Doubt it, if you weigh in the Beast Titan's abilities," He answered faintly. The brittle quality of his voice had Mikasa looking at him and yes Eren noticed, but he simply didn't care anymore. "-But then again, they could still be involved if they know the thing. We're going out to confirm that after all."

"True enough," Sasha nodded. "And to be honest, Reiner never came off as outright malicious in the first place. He seemed to hesitate when he attacks people-"

Something snapped nearby; Mikasa's clenching hold on a wooden frame arrested everyone's frightened stares on her for a second before they continued with a shift in topic.

"-And what of Annie? Do you think she attacked Trost? She's been loose long enough to reunite with the others and plan something."

_Armin. Are you with her?_

Eren listened to Sasha's next reply, trying to pointedly ignore the miserable glance he got from Mikasa in front of him. She must be thinking the same thing he was he concluded.

"Who knows? She doesn't seem to know what she wants anymore. I remember her trying to run off when she was getting her behind whipped. I'd wager she wasn't the one who did it."

Jean heaved another crate of spare tanks with Marlo to help, voicing the thing both Eren and Mikasa dreaded to hear. He added, "She's got Armin with her. I think she has something else in mind for him but I don't see how she can use him for an invasion on Trost. She's pretty crafty herself."

"Then what? If she's so smart then what could she possibly want Armin for if his only skill set is his intelligence?" Connie asked.

Jean considered the inquiry with a squinted scowl after pushing the crate as far back onto wagon as he could, Marlo hopping in it to pull. "I guess that's the difficult part to figure into the equation. What do we know that Armin knows that Annie doesn't?"

The question was too vague in Eren's opinion; there was a _lot _of things that Armin knew; forbidden, secret things he had found only in his family books, but Annie wasn't interested in that kind of thing. She would want to use his knowledge of _something _to get home though, right? She was trying to climb the wall when she was escaping him with that intention in mind, that is if her goals weren't too dissimilar from Reiner's and Bertholdt's.

_Then, if she was trying to go back to her home, why would she take Armin along for the ride...? It doesn't make any sense._

"Shiganshina."

The lone answer came from Mikasa, whose metallic eyes shone like enlarged and glossed orbs.

Everyone gawked at her for minute before before Eren spoke up, somewhat taken aback by her incredulous suggestion. "What in Maria's name are you talking about? What are you thinking?"

She turned stiffly to face the shifter, her gaze grave and further accentuated by the bluish rings of fatigue surrounding her rounded eyes. "Erwin... He told all of the graduating trainees about it... that there is a secret way to defeat the Titans. Remember?"

"No freakin way!" Connie spat. "You think Annie took Armin so he can show her the way to Eren's house?"

Jean blinked at the thought and asked, "Couldn't she just bang down the doors of every house in the district to find it though? It doesn't sound like she'd want to bother to help Armin survive long enough to get to Shiganshina; she's too impatient."

"Yeah," Sasha waved her finger at the statement. "But Annie's desperate and she couldn't catch Eren to complete her mission, so she could possibly resort to the next best thing; the source of Eren's power. Eventually, we would go after her anyway and she knows this; so she could also use Armin against us in a hostage situation if she was fighting Eren."

Mikasa approached the Dauper huntress and agreed, "Annie is afraid of death. This we know for sure. She is almost as intelligent as Armin as well; she can probably foresee several opened avenues if she gets to the basement first: She could go home with that delicate information, or use Armin and said information against us when we find her. Maybe she can use it on _us _the next time we fight her, if not potentially destroy it to devastate our efforts to fight the Titans. There are many ways to she could hinder us if she gets it."

"We still don't know this for sure," Eren dourly stated while trying to convince himself that Annie wouldn't make it there. "She could have easily just-"

Jean darkly countered, "Eren, wake up. Seriously, why _else _would someone like Annie take a weakling like Armin for anything other than that? She would do just about anything to save her own skin these days."

_...Oh god. We don't have much time then!_

"Guys, this _Annie _we're talking about," Connie threw out his arms and pronounced. "She wouldn't do that to Armin and us out-right! She's mean but not utterly. She could have offed any of us in the expedition and the attempt to catch her in Stohess or in secrecy any other time while we knew her, but she didn't!"

"Oh my god Connie are you that fucking dense!?" Jean turned and glowered at the bald youth, his anger setting itself back into place. "Annie _is _that kind of person who would kill us all in place of herself; in the 57th expedition she almost fucking succeeded in finishing me if it wasn't for Armin's distraction! She is a bleeding freaking coward when she is confronted!"

Connie was seen mumbling something to Sasha that sounded something along the lines of, "Asshole," as far as Eren can see from the corner of his eyes, but it seemed Jean had caught that.

"I heard that you little runt!"

Eren bristled as his blood started to pulse with that familiar Titan anger at the thought of what Annie could wrought. He ignored their next exchange of words as his spine shuddered and his hands surrendered their vice-like hold on the next object of his task. Just as the fight started to rear its ugly head, prompting his rage to bubble further, he straightened himself rapidly and screamed "Enough!", making Mikasa almost jump next to him. A visible stream of hissing steam rose from his persperating body next, his molten emeralds more like mercury in his fury.

The silence that followed gave him the attention of all his peers.

"Shifter or not, and no matter what the fuck she's doing for that matter, Annie's mortal just like the rest of us. She'll pay for what she has done, as well as those traitors," Eren found himself snarling. The word _mortal _suddenly seemed so much more significant, leaving Eren breathlessly nervous about Armin's well-being, but he went on without a beat. "-She won't be able to do anything against us if we all engage her together; Humanity's strongest squad nearly beat her before and we can certainly do it again! I don't hardly care what she's doing or where she goes: Because I intend to find Armin and bring him back!"

Mikasa gave an approving nod to his poisonous words, her onyx colored eyes reflecting her own blood-hungry intention.

"Oy."

Levi galloped up on his snorting stallion, pulling the reins enough to curl the animal's head close to its breast. "Are you all quite finished? We have to get going soon and you lot need to freshen up before we leave." He scowled at the younger Scouts and made a "Tcch" sound under his breath. "-And quit with the pissing contest you're having now. I can clearly see that everything isn't loaded yet."

"Sir!" saluted every soldier around him.

Levi turned and gave Eren and the rest of his personal squad a sideways glance and went on to leave, but not before saying, "We'll be discussing your argumentative behavior later."

That left everyone to gulp down their anxious fear, with the exception of Mikasa who simply stared him down and hoped her horrid glare could kill him alone.

It was finally time to get going, and Eren couldn't have been anymore prepared than he was now. He reclaimed Mikasa's attention and proceeded to finish with the loading, silence befalling the entire group. Once the wagons were done, everyone within Levi's special operations squad went to where their captain had gone whilst others strapped the horses in to the multiple carts, guiding the animals to the next meeting point. Eren felt his nerves spike as he walked alongside Mikasa, his next goal clear. It didn't really matter if it was related to their objective, because he knew it was inevitable nonetheless.

_I will find you Armin, no matter what I have to do. Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt, EVERY single one of those bastards will pay for what they've done to us. Betraying us is one thing, but taking you away with the intention to screw us is another. I will rip them apart in my own teeth if... WHEN I find them._

_I promise that._

* * *

~000~


	11. Encounter

_Here is another chapter lovelies. All of your wonderful reviews always makes me feel like I'm the one that's flying high; not the characters with their gear in full swing. *tears up grossly* Thank you for that wonderful feeling. _

_I apologize for the tardy updates since I was into another fandom lately, my inspiration dropping to new lows during such intervals; but it was brought back up by your support and the recent implementations of the manga chapters I've seen. Very interesting developments indeed! _

_Anyway, read on people, and yes you will see in future updates more of Eren and the others._

* * *

~000~

Annie was a very hard person to surprise.

After killing that weakling nine-meter monster of an aberant, she had expected a smooth transition into the next phase of their plan, seeing how Armin managed to keep these people safe until she turned up. That was a surprise alone considering how weak the boy was, and yet he had been able to play his part _wonderfully_ until he had been confronted by that freak Titan. She had tried to not let the chilling fear of what happened to him dissuade her from the priority objective at hand. Getting the perimeter cleared, she hurried back to the boy as fast as she could sprint, having not forgotten even for a second that he was too weak to carry out all of his own plan. When she saw that angry nine-meter charging right at those people with Armin standing as their bulwark, Annie felt like she could not have been fast enough to stop it:

That is until she witnessed Armin freaking Arlert _saving _one of those people. She's seen a lot of crazy things considering her position as a warrior, but that had to be one of the strangest.

_Not bad Arlert. Not bad at all._

Stepping towards the inert body, she felt her heart thundering at a rate that filled her ears with its thumping resonance as she bent over. Mutely, she noted Armin's face was all shades of deathly pale and blood creeped out through his teeth and nose. The overwhelming tang of death surrounded him in a great curtain that nearly left the warrior girl frozen in place.

The people he had been guiding were now surrounding them and whispering incoherently under their breath, glancing at each other helplessly as they expressed a thought or two. Figuring that they were taking too long to decide on whatever they had been murmuring, she scooped up the boy as gingerly as possible and stepped over towards the Garrison HQ door. Ignoring the now gawking onlookers, she placed Armin in front of the door and emerged from the Titan's dying flesh thereafter. Sliding down its shoulder, she hopped over to the boy and weighed her options as she watched for any signs of animation on his chilly visage.

"Auntie! There was a _lady _inside the Titan thing!"

The little brat Armin had risked himself earlier to save shouted louder than anyone would have liked; _especially_ Annie. She had never been partial to children and likely never will. Her attitude made it nearly impossible for her to get along with people her own age as it is, let alone little kids.

Annie however didn't care to hear whatever they said next though; she was too busy occupying herself with the boy's deteriating health. She didn't wait another second to try and open the door, crashing her foot against the metallic barrier in front of her in a mad attempt to barge in. That's when she realized that the endeavor was fruitless since it was built with the purpose of keeping Titans at bay.

How so very stupid of her to waste any time in trying.

Contorting her features into a grimace she recalled her manuevering gear still strapped to her and noted that she was going to have to jump inside through one of the windows and head back down to unlock the door. It was their best bet considering that no one else had decided to answer the desperate knocking. Just as she placed her hands over the trigger guards of her equipment her eyes wandered back down to the boy sitting prone against the cracked wall in front of her. She realized that the blood-flow on his waist was now flowing hotly and strongly once more. The blood stains were always a reminder of his murky mortality, and seeing it _all _over him in such a great quantity left her still with a breathless fear that crackled like shattering ice over her nerve endings.

_If only I didn't leave our provisions behind on the wall... How stupid a girl can I be?_

Turning towards the people behind her and observing them, she gauged whether or not they would even bother to help the lad who had risked both life and limb to save their worthless carcasses. Apparently still too nervous and wary of Annie and her powers, they lingered far enough away from the pair so that the girl couldn't even attempt to strike out at them if she so dared desired. That was fine with her since Armin's alternate plan with them suited her selfish ways just as well. As far as she was concerned, she didn't care.

Annie didn't linger there in front of the door for long at all; she was inside the HQ a swift moment later. She almost hoped that the _other _shifter wouldn't come after seeing her initial transformation, mentally berrating herself for the treacherous thoughts. She should be fucking elated to see him, yet she was not. The Beast Titan was an ally to her cause considering her freedom, but was it for the purposes she believed? It was always hard to guess since the fellow shifter was a calculated killer with not the slightest shred of care for the human race. If anything, he was outright malicious at times.

In his presense, she had always felt her own weakness come to bubble at dangerously high levels. He was more powerful than she and Reiner's Titan forms combined. Moreover, the mission was more important and yet here she was, acting like he was the enemy to all she knew and stood for and she was following her _captive's _plan on removing the thing. Being around Armin for so long had done her no favors apparently. Her loyalties were seemingly muddled no thanks in part to that smart-ass, but she was all the wiser than letting that runt get into her head further.

It would be her death if she were to defy it anymore.

Shaking her somewhat pounding skull at the intruding doubts, she scrubbed at her dried orbs, not noticing sooner that the stinking air outside had robbed them of their moisture. Despite this, she began to examine what was around her within the immediate vicinity next: Her intention now was to head down to the first floor so she could admit the other survivors.

Suddenly, her thoughts blurred again, her mouth thinning considerably. Why should she even bother with those cowardly riff-raff? She could just leave Armin and those people out there if she wanted and just take the boat at the docks. She could be in Shiganshina in less than a day and she wasn't obligated to assist the former further. He was _her _prisoner after-all, and she could just leave his dead weight behind, right?

Annie pursed her lip again when another more sensible thought hit her: She recalled why she needed the ass alive and it was to help her find Eren's house sooner rather than later so she could return home far more quickly. It had been her intention from the start of this whole escapade. All those troubles they've been through together woud be wasted if she didn't stick to it.

The familiar ache of hotness that used to be her teeth-grinding frustration for the boy had somewhat faded to a rippling throb these days, and it made assisting Armin a bit more bearable. She could have gone off on her own but there was a chance of not being able to find the Jaeger residence for the next long while; maybe months or so. Shiganshina was a small district but it was _crowded _in terms of housing. Building foundation was oddly close knit and the debris among other things would complicate the search. She was somewhat hard-pressed for time after-all and it didn't help that she was an impatient person.

Sighing slightly, she navigated the elevated room and headed towards the stairs leading to next floor, her gear clinking loudly and heavily against her. She swiped away some of the sweaty build-up of her throes as she descended, the stony building having retained some of the town's roiling heat. Making it onto the ground floor, she paused in front of the reinforced door barring her from the next phase of their plan. Lifting her hand to unlock it she jiggled the convoluted mechanisms for a bit and furrowed her brow at the odds and ends of the locks, a little surprised by the resiliance of them. She was about to lose her patience again with this stupid thing when she noticed the holes by the knob that made her spit fire and acid next: She needed a fucking _key _in order to get the damn thing to budge.

_You've got to be FUCKING me! A KEY of all god-damned things! _

Annie bared her teeth and groaned as she banged her head against the faintly warmed door, not knowing until a series noises finally alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone.

"Having trouble there letting in the smaller Titans, freak?"

The tell-tale click of half-a-dozen loaded rifles made Annie freeze, her face turned away from the opposing individuals standing on the other side of the room. She managed to glimpse them over her shoulder if only slightly, her icy stare unseen by the peons:

An almost middle-aged Garrison soldier was found standing in the doorway some several meters from her, his stone-colored flinty eyes bulbous and over-bright in the unerring darkness of the room. He had seemingly come out of nowhere, fully armed and standing with a shaking team of five others right beside him. His edged baritone had sounded sure, but the man himself did not have the looks to match the brittle steel in his voice. His rifle shook too much and his finger was resting on the trigger with a tighter squeeze than Annie was comfortable with.

_Pfft. I don't have the time to deal with the likes of them; I have to get Armin in here. Now._

Annie lifted her head and kept facing the iron obstacle her hand rested on, not at all intimidated by the obviously frightened interlopers. She enquired with an flat inflection, "There are civilians outside and an injured scout from the regiment; all needing some medical care and a place to hide. The town square is clear enough for me to admit them."

"Hell no! Don't even try to fool us with that crock of shit," the squad leader rasped threateningly. "We saw you stomping in over here in that Titan body of yours, and we plan on ending you here!"

"Then," she went on. "-You must have seen me arrive with an ailing boy in my hands as well as a small group of bystanders trailing behind. I did not come here alone."

"You're right; we saw that you didn't come alone," interjected the shivering captain. "Because we saw those human-skinned freaks traisping the place and turning the denizens into Titans just a while ago! The lot of ya all working together to kill us all! You're only here to assure the job gets done."

_...Did I hear that right? There's others here too?_

Somehow, the girl figured that this was the case; the Beast Titan having come from an opposing direction than which she and Armin had arrived from initially. It certainly betrayed the possibility that there was other shifters out here too, but she hasn't seen any trace of them throughout her stay here. Where they were though was debatable, and if they've seen her taking out the Titans here than this will surely pose a problem for her in the nearest future.

Especially if they relay that message to the Ape in question. Her future, her goals, everything would be dashed against all that she has fought and killed for.

Suddenly frightened of the possibility, she forced herself to wear her typical mask of calm, if not bored contempt. She had to keep her hands from shaking as she inched them to where the trembling men could see them and placed them behind her sticky scalp. Turning to face the cowering dogs in painful slowness, Annie measured her palpitating heart and breathed out slowly, letting the frightening thoughts go for the moment. She could see that a couple of them looked a bit surprised by her gesture but moved no less to readjust their arms so they were aiming at her head and still-thumping heart.

_I'll have to be gentle and ease the answers out of them later. They're blinded with selective fear right now and perfectly incapable of seeing those people standing in plain sight outside._

"I'll say this again," she entreated in a lighter manner. She did not have the patience for this but she had a job to do; there was innocents to be saved and a clock to adhere too; and shifters to find apparently. "I'm trying to help you all out here; please let me do my job and allow me to admit those people standing outside. We don't have long before more Titans show and you'll be completely on your own in terms of defense."

"LIAR!" The captain bellowed. "Now you're deceiving us with sugared poisen!"

"I say we shoot her," a shorter and more thick-set person stated.

This looked bad, but Annie had always credited herself for being a clever girl. Suddenly an idea popped into her head; her eyebrows relaxing against her brow just a bit at the thought of what she was going to say.

"Your bullets won't garentee a kill on the first shots," she cautiously added.

"I'm willing to take my chances," the scowling captain growled.

Annie purposedly made herself look meek and small, even going through the motions of placing a tiny hand over her heart and contorting her angular features into a frightened appearance. "And besides- even if I let the Titans in, they'll be more interested in eating the first person they see, right? They'll just grab me before they even glimpse you."

Their silence was enough encouragement to go on.

"-See, Titans flounder about and inanely grab the first person they can reach. With me here, you could run and secure the door behind you before they even see you. Considering this, why would I let the damned things in if I knew they were going to eat me? Titans are known for attacking shifters too if you recall the Trost plan a few months ago."

The men turned towards their squad leader in deliberation.

"This said," She lowered her hands and kept them where the uncertain soldiers can see them. "Why not take your chances and allow me to open the door? Its not like your weapons will kill me before they induce an unfortunate transformation. The resulting blast may or may not kill you, and it won't be quickly may I add."

"I'm willing to make that gamble," uttered the trembling captain. His voice got more brittle as he went on, "You're like one of their own! They'll simply pass you and gun it for us."

"Sir!" One of other squad spoke out. "We don't know that for sure... The incident with the Titan kid a while back should have proven how unpredictable the-"

A sharp _CRACK _silenced the man before he can even finish. All but Annie jumped at the sudden lash from the frightened leader now glaring down at his whimpering subordinate. Whatever bravado he may have had before when he was pointing his weapon at Annie had seemingly been false as he howled pathetically, "You be quiet! We're _not _taking anymore chances with these infernal pretenders wandering about these hallowed walls!" He leveled it back at the shifter as he ranted on, "And _you_! I'm done listening to your accursed lies! Its time we put you freaks to _extinction_-!"

The next attack had the warrior girl almost gaping as the taller man standing next to the first smashed his gun's heavy stock into his superior's sweaty skull. The captain fell and produced a dull _whump _upon hitting the floor. His second-in-command scowled at him with an unsure but solid gleam flitting about his hazel gaze while lowering his own weapon.

Annie could only blankly stare as he seemed to measure what he just did and turned to face the girl with a thin pursed lip. She clamped her jaw shut and caught a ring of keys that had been tossed at her. She stared up at the Garrison soldier and locked eyes with him briefly before he almost whispered, "Open the door."

"...How can you be sure I'm not a liar?" She couldn't help asking.

He breathed out his next reply after a tiny silence, "That's just it; I'm not sure. All I know is that my head's clearer then our Captain's as he is right now: Clear enough to understand your words and remember _that_ day and what we learned from it. Your words funnily enough made more sense to me then his commands ever did the whole ordeal."

Annie tilted her head at him in question.

"-See, he's been out of it since the first titans appeared just outside the district. His orders meant we abandon the civilians to the beasts as they appeared inside the area while we try to take to the walls and boats-" His words trailed off for a few short seconds before he finished with, "-A futile attempt at escape that sabotaged both the people's escape routes and what we stood for. He's willing to betray and sacrifice so many of us in order to live. We lost many of our own trying to evacuate while following his orders and now here we stand."

He bent down and helped his comrade up who was holding his head and moaning, "...We're at a loss. I guess I'm saying I'd like to take my chances with your words after what we've been through. Nothing makes sense anymore."

Annie weighed those words and turned around, feeling the eyes of the weary men watching her every move. She placed the keys where they needed to be and disengaged the locks, finally pulling the obscenely heavy door open.

She then said while in utter disbelief of her own words, "We'll get out of here; just you watch."

That remark had left the men behind her a little more than confused at her true underlying nature. Their dumbfounded expressions were not seen by the warrior girl but she can certainly detect their shared confusion. A lacking in understanding in the methods of shifters was common; even Annie herself debated the fragile 'trust' between she and her equals.

The Beast Titan had been strange enough, let alone herself.

Irrelevant thoughts aside, Annie in the moments following was witnessed bending over the scrawny form of an under-sized boy she had dragged into the fort, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. All of the surviving denizenry had been let in as well, prompting for even more pairs of numerous, cautious eyes to observe her dedicated treatment in the boy. She was aware of this of course, very much sure of the fact that these people perceived her a threat despite what she has done for them, but the opinions of sheep didn't matter to the predator as the saying goes.

Armin meanwhile was shivering on occasion, his face horrendously gray with death and his remaining, visible eye socket sullen with sickness. His colorless lips quivered and a fresh coat of sweat that had plastered over him while she had been distracted. His fingertips were like ice, and his chest barely rose at all. Armin's pale skin had been hot and fevered before, but now held a clammy quality that left Annie fighting her uneasiness about his debilitated condition.

The Second-in-Command who had surrendered the keys earlier approached her and handed her a box with the medical surplus she desperately needed. He stood over the pair and wrinkled his oddly-long nose, watching Armin with a chilled ease that betrayed his doubts regarding the boy's survival. Peering into Annie's face, he asked, "Are you really going to help him? He won't last much longer; he's already fallen into a blood fever while he had been outside."

The shifter scowled deeply, but not from animosity. She knew what the blood fever was; as a little girl she recalled the dangers of those being so seriously hurt that certain people fell into an unconscious stupor before they passed away. Not all do, but some. It left one as Armin is now, and gave almost no chance of recovery but Annie had to try. She couldn't complete her goals without his precision and expertise in strategy. She needed Armin to help her complete her long-term goals in Shiganshina as well as what they needed to do here.

She moved a loose tangle of hair from her face and narrowed her eyes, "He's vital to our cause. His resourcefulness has been noted even by the scout's superiors. He is necessary, and that's what makes his life worth saving."

_I sound like a damn well-trained pawn. Armin's more valuable than that._

_...In what way though?_

The preceding sentence had the girl shaking her head again as she aided the boy, the man next to her watching in pensive and respectful silence. He was reserved and smart, this Annie surmised, but she also wondered as to his abrupt change in loyalty to his superior. She was always suspicious of fluttery changes in strangers, no matter their reasons.

The process of medication still took awhile, and Annie still had to wake Armin up before he slipped away into soundless oblivion while resting. She knew how tired he was; Annie was just as exhausted, having only snatches of sleep within the last twenty-four hours. It was too dangerous to leave the boy as he is though, no matter how much rest he needed.

Annie was unaware of the change in her expression as she patted the prisoner's cheek, shaking him slightly as well. Her face was a gloomy mask of almost undisguised concern that caught the man's eye next to her. He watched Annie's attempts in waking the scout and noted her strange demeanor that was not consistent with that of an terrible enemy. If anything, she was for all of her power more like a friend to the boy than captor nor foe.

Whoever she was though, it didn't matter as long as they got out of here. That was all that really mattered to him.

* * *

~000~

Armin heard a voice more clearly this time, instead of comparing it to hearing it through a wall of thundering water like he had the last few minutes.

Or hours. He couldn't tell how long.

The boy tensed as wakeful sobriety pierced through his inane pain-drugged rest. The crusty grit of his exhaustion as well as a fresh bead of smeared blood sealed his remaining eye shut, leaving him to think he lost that too. After a minute of reclaiming his calm and counting breaths, he weakly rubbed at it and winced, trying to peer up into face of the enigmatic figure leaning over him:

It was Annie again, to which he wasn't surprised. He wasn't gonna lie when he'd say he was saddened that it wasn't Mikasa he was seeing.

Annie was meanwhile looking over him with an alien emotion painting her face. It startled him initially, seeing how it was something she normally didn't wear. Her expression was nearly always neutral or bored even when she was upset, but this wasn't the case now. Her lacking in sureness in a normally flat voice told the boy what she was really feeling, besides the somewhat obvious display of stress on her. It made him feel like he committed a crime for making her feel so worried.

Internally though, he had somehow knew that it had been _her_ instead of Mikasa he'd been hearing in his last few minutes of sleep all along. However, he had not been sensible enough until now to comprehend it. It didn't seem to make sense at first, but he finally realized the alien sensation that bubbled up as he watched her through a weary and unfocused gaze. It puzzled him and made him squirm a bit at first, but he came to grips with it quickly upon acceptance.

He was happy to see her, like seriously relieved in a tangible way. Seeing her there and wearing her vulnerability on her sleeve made him feel just a bit more important to her than he ever could have guessed. It was comparable to the sense of kinship he had whenever he sat with Eren and the aforementioned girl, the kind that made him feel like he can live to fight another day.

And to think, this was Annie he was talking about. He almost wanted to laugh at the thought.

"Get up, Armin. I can't let you die yet," she said, knelt beside him with a hand now resting on her leg.

The soldier still puzzled at her change in disposition before questioning where in Maria's name he was. Nonetheless, a slight twitch in the lip betrayed his smile as he received her, clearly glad to see neither harm nor anger at the forefront of her features like he originally anticipated. Standing within arm's reach of him, Annie gave him a lingering once-over that compelled her to reach toward his middle without knowing it. She paused halfway in realization, thinning her mouth as she stared at his waist and the blood encrusted ruin of fabric covering his body that was meant to be his clothes. Her brows pulled toward the center in a familiar frown as she evaluated his condition.

"Armin, are you in any more pain than usual?" she asked in faint voice, trying not to look so worried. Her crystaline eyes however were indeed treacherous as he read her expression.

Armin blinked in a slow and dazed manner before giving himself a mild look but he didn't seem quite unsettled by it in the least. This made Annie worry at her lip slightly while she waited for his delayed reaction to his infirmities. He noticed that he was wearing newer bandages and his only truly dirty articles were his shirt and pants. With a sigh at the observation, he also saw his gear lying nearby that Annie had removed when she tended to him.

_Yet again, she busied herself with my sake. Dammit all._

"Annie," he gasped, sounding way too calm for for his own good. That without fail had filled her and even himself with some fluttering dread. He wasn't at all unsettled with another one of his close brushes with Death's icy hands, slowly wrapping its tendrils around his throat.

"It's no worse than before," he fibbed. He was still in roaring agony despite his level words. His heart felt like it was stuttering over its own beat for some reason, and his physical state seemed to be declining more and more. "-I'm fine now though, really... You don't need to concern yourself with me anymore."

"Bullshit," Annie scathingly replied, her signature glare returning. Staring down at his greasy face, which was completely laden with soot and grime as well, she went on with, "You're such a pain in the ass. You're sitting in literally head-to-toe in mostly your own blood and you say you're fine? Bull. Freaking. Shit."

Armin narrowed his eye at her and was about to say something that was obviously meant to quell the matter until his attempt to prop himself up on his arms brought his head crashing back down onto the floor. His fractured arm had given in once again, leading to a horrid series of flashing lights to flicker into his blurred vision. Annie of course sighed heavily as if resigned, and then she proceeded to sit him up against the wall behind him with a steady hand.

An unexpected movement caught Armin's wavering focus back onto the present, his brain numbly registering that there was a shifting something next to Annie: A Garrison soldier no less, crouched beside her with his hazel eyes clever but guarded. He didn't seem any older than mid-twenties, but his face suggested a mind-set exceeding that age by twice. He was thin and lanky not unlike Bertholdt as well, if anything gangly. If all else, he wasn't too dissimilar to Ian Dietrich; another deceased face that fazed out of his recollection of people long gone.

"Oy," He grunted with a surprisingly accented voice. "What the heck is going on here? Aren't you part of the Scouting regiment, boy?"

"...Uh... Yes, I am," he trailed off airily, shocked at seeing a living person here at all. Seeing anyone alive these days was a little bit strange to him, being so used to seeing corpses and their offal for so long. "Eh, what is is that you need to know?"

The garrison grunt wrinkled his brow and tightened both his expression and tone, his belief in Armin's reply clearly skeptical. He said with a puckered lip, "Your shifting friend said we can survive this damned attack with what you have in mind. Is that true? Can we get out of here?"

The boy nodded at first until he analyzed the second inquiry and shook his head, making him feel sick in the process. His gut clenched at the absence of hunger and his throat felt unforgivably dry. Annie aided the boy in sitting up just enough for Armin to slouch against the wall further and level his bleary stare back at the Garrison man in front of him. That was when he noticed that both the man and people in the room were watching them, every single set of watery eyes flickering between he and the girl next to him. Armin felt something akin to embarrassment when he noticed the _whole _room was observing their banter.

"...Uh, I see you managed to get everyone in the headquarters, Annie. Well done."

"Yep," the girl replied dryly.

"Hey! Eyes on me, kid."

Armin tried to let his apprehension go as he returned his attention to the soldier watching them.

"Ignore them," went on the man. "I'm the one you should be talking too; name's Melandus by the way. I am currently leading the squad behind me," he indicated over his shoulder. "-I need to know why escaping from here won't work."

Armin considered the newly named individual's words and nodded, not realizing that he was doing it until the older soldier raised a critical eyebrow. "Oh, I ah... No, we can't leave sir. Its not possible at this point."

"Why in Rose's name not?"

Annie answered for Armin, whose breath had grown short and labored again. "-That's because of the Titan threat in the interior. Trost is on its own now, with the exception of the other districts being zoned off. Have you not noticed that?"

Melandus bit out a swear and contorted his face into a dark mask, looking away briefly as he measured Annie's statement. "Yeah, we have for your information. But with all the shit that's going down do you really think we wouldn't ask if there isn't an ulterior way of escaping?"

The Scout held up his hand and gave the grim man an understanding expression, taking in a deep, shuddering breath so to give himself some energy to speak. "There is no need to leave Trost if we can work this out. Annie's already secured the place and I'm pretty sure that you have some equipment handy, right?"

"Yeah, we do," Melandus blinked impassively but his clever eyes betrayed his racing mind. "The Reeves' company gave us our last shipment just days before the Titan invasion in Rose. It came by boat from Sina."

"This is madness! We need to be escaping; not holding the fort!" One of the other men interrupted. "Trost is finished now as we know it! We should have left when we had the chance!"

"There IS no escape," Annie growled lowly, terrifying the frightened underling. She repeated once again that night, "Don't you get it? The Titans have pretty much screwd us all the instant the Beast appeared in Stohess some week or so ago. Sina's barely holding together at this point itself; do you honestly think that the people in the next wall will let you in even if you made it there? They'll just cast you out like they did in 846!"

_The plan to 'recapture' Wall Maria. I remember that._

The boy shook his head at Annie's words, knowing full well that Historia would permit the refugees to enter, but that was besides the point. He forced out his sudden and gloomy recollection of his departing grandfather upon sensing a heavy spike in the argument that was sure to break their stability. He shuffled his arms a bit and regained everyone's attention.

"That's why we..." He sputtered from a rising cough that brought the crashing wave of copper on his tongue, clearing his throat with a great heave that made his ribs spike with renewed pain. "We... we have to jointly combine our efforts into fortifying Trost so that it can never fall under Titan control again... Ah... Annie has already disposed of the aberrants outside with her Titan's scream; leaving the place void of threat. Haven't any of you noticed the absence of Titans that should be banging at your doors?"

This left Melandus and the others to pause and glance at each other.

Armin smirked and nodded in an 'I thought so' manner before turning to Annie and saying "Help me up" suddenly, making the girl hesitate for a second. She debated the welfare of his health and ability to stand upright, but if he fell back on his ass she wouldn't be to blame. So she complied, although she had Armin slump against herself heavily like a deadened weight. Annie pulled the boy's good arm around herself and leaned him more on the wall as well, not letting go despite his weak protest. Armin's sweaty form had him sticking to her but she pretended to not notice this disgusting development. After a moment of awkward shuffling and a blatant attempt at ignoring his bleeding infirmities, the two returned their attention to the people in the room.

"We," Armin wheezed out with some emphasis, suddenly noticing the alarming amount of soldiers looking to him for guidance. He hadn't noted it before due to his pulsing migraine, but now the over-crowded room seemed much more confining. He lost his words for a moment and tried with some hesitation on his part, "-We have to set up a series of cables in key locations around the district and port. They'll have to be out of sight so they can function like trip lines."

"How will setting up Titan-net cables work at all?" Another soldier spat heatedly. "And seriously? Trip lines?"

"The Titans, if they were to reappear at all will fall over them, giving you all, inexperienced or not, a chance at their nape," Armin puffed. "And besides, I also have another ulterior use for them near the port."

"Huh? What for?" Melandus folded his arms in consideration of the statement.

Annie nudged Armin in the ribs with her shoulder gingerly, getting his attention again briefly. She peered past his dirty fringe and said, "Arlert, one of these men pointed out earlier that there were shifters somewhere. Something about pretenders and the earlier attack on this place."

"Did they now?" The Scout raised his only visible brow at this. He added as an afterthought, "I kinda figured as much with where the Beast Titan was going..."

Before they could elaborate, a low-toned moan went up between the now puzzled soldiers. Turning their attention onto the floor, Melandus, Annie and a confused Armin took in the sight of the formally unconscious captain stirring. To be honest, Armin hadn't even noticed the guy sitting there in a crumpled heap the whole time he had been awake.

"Tcch," Melandus cursed again and crossed over to where the man lie. He gave the captain a kick and hissed, "I see I haven't hit him hard enough if he's getting up now. Wonder if I should throw him into a locked closet and forget about him?"

Annie had a neutral expression plastered onto her face but her voice suggested something else much more malevolent. With a dark mirth she offered, "How about using him as bait in the future? Your captain should be happy to offer his life to his people."

"Guys," Armin sighed. "Focus."

The Second-in-Command sniffed contemptuously and curled his bottom lip with distaste. "Alright boyo. What do you suggest we do with him?"

"I don't even know. What did he do exactly?"

Annie gave Armin another side-longs glance as the captain began to shake off his stupor and sit up. She replied stiffly, "He left the people to die simply put. Those caved-in tunnels we saw are _his _fault when he tried to get out of here."

_Ah. Now I see what's going on here. The lady earlier told me that the military deserted this place and it seems like he's the reason why._

"Well," Armin smirked something dreadful; in a way that curled Annie's nerve. "His treachery is punishable by death according to law, but I'm sure he can make up for it with what we have to do."

The former squad leader glanced up as soon as he heard those words, taking in the sight of the boy and the strange titan-shifting girl he leaned on for physical support. Appalled by the thought of what the boy may have in mind, he gritted his teeth and shivered. He shot out his arm in a mad attempt to reach for his rifle but it was callously kicked away from him by his traitorous subordinate. Once again, the man got kicked in the ribs and suddenly sat on by Melandus, who seemed to smile at his new wriggling seat.

"Yep. This will do," he mused as he glanced back up at Armin. "Captain Martinez says he'll be happy to help. Just tell us what we need to do to finish securing the district."

The newly-named Martinez harrumphed at the scout, "I'm not going back out there! What makes you think I'd do something stupid like that?"

Annie released the boy then; crackling her knuckles threateningly behind Armin and taking a step forward while flashing the menace behind her normally bored gaze. All the men flinched and shook terrifically with the exception of Melandus, who almost laughed but stifled it. The former legionnaire smiled something so artificial and scarcely sane that it made the cowardly soldiers feel like their blood crystallized.

"-I'll be sure to keep _her_ off of you if you comply," he added with a deadly calm while emphasizing Annie's importance. Next, he waved his hand behind him dismissively as he warned them in a strangely blithe manner, "However, you'll have to grow a pair of balls and do as I say _exactly _if you want to live so badly. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety."

"O-okay... okay! We get it! Just promise that y-you'll keep her away from us!" cried out the former captain.

He gave them another twisted and ugly sneer that was sure to finish unnerving them as he said, "I swear it," for the second time that night.


	12. That in Which We Believe

_I'm so sorry people for the tardy update. :( _

_It takes a while for updates these days, but I had some reality-shaking wake up calls to learn from before I continued writing. Moreover, I was writing in multiple chapters at once too, so I can get these out to you quicker as well within the nearest furture. There will not be any further stints in this story's development as well. It was taking me a while to figure out this story's direction too since I'm making it up as I go, but now I __**FINALLY **__have it figured out! It will be both painful and sweet and more quickly updated my lovelies. :) _

_I also realized that it has been WELL over a year since the story started! God I feel like crap for not having delivered more to you patient ones out there. Enjoy this next chapter anyway._

* * *

~000~

Annie wasn't the only Titan-changing individual that had come to Trost.

Reiner himself had come with the pretenses of finding her and had gotten what he asked for when she appeared out of a hissing column of hot steam. However, Annie had been completely oblivious to the notice of the other shifters circum-navigating the square undetected, both Bertholdt and Reiner having witnessed her little act. The Armored Titan shifter licked his cracked lips and squatted down, observing as the Female Titan eliminated the entire giant population within the confines of Trost and proceeded to assist the citizens in escape. Annie soon disappeared into the headquarters thereafter with the last survivors in tow and what he thought was a shape that horribly resembled _Armin _no less. However, he wasn't so sure about the identity of said boy from where he was hiding, but it was merely conjecture given what little he could discern from unclear observation from afar.

Unnerved, Reiner chewed on his bottom lip and settled himself onto his thick calves, his mind reeling at the possibilties. Questions surged through his mind and chipped at his brittle composure, his thin eyes seeing but not quite comprehending. He moved his blades until the tips lightly touched the flat rooftop he stood upon, keeping his sweat-filmed head ducked so she couldn't glimpse his imposing and stocky figure. Her actions were a little more than puzzling, and it left the lad to wonder if what he was seeing was even real. Annie was on _their _side; not the citizens. Maybe this was a different shifter he mused at first, but then he reprimended himself for entertaining something so foolish.

_No. Its Annie alright; and only she has an ass like that. She's the only Female Titan shifter I know to butt... Ah, to boot. _

_Shit. Mind out of the gutter Reiner. Okay, anyway, what is it that she's even doing with these people? She doesn't owe them a damn thing and she hates people to start with. So what the hell?_

_Oh God. Please don't tell me that she's gone soft._

_Or rogue..._

Reiner considered telling Bertholdt, but what could he say? Wouldn't he be devastated at her treacherous actions if by some small chance he didn't see it for himself? No, he quickly concluded. Bertholdt was gentle and forgiving when it came to Annie, but not Zeke. He would abandon her and kill her if she posed any real threat to their operation. Zeke had been merciful when he said he would strive to get Annie back if Reiner beat him in a match (which he certainly did he recalled somewhat proudly), but the Beast Titan will change his mind if the girl proved to be even remotely worthless to him.

As for the girl's method to the madness demonstrated here today, Reiner couldn't puzzle it out, smart as he is. All he surmised was that Annie herself had more remorse and ... Dare he say it, _kindness _in her than even he had expected. Her perception on what is good was warped, but it was not beyond a form that was unrecognizable. Perhaps she was helping these people out of sympathy and had planned on moving on to their next rendevous point soon thereafter. It was the only thing Reiner felt like he can conclude. They had only come here and messed with these people _again _because it would supposedly draw her in after her liberation and disappearance from Stohess.

And boy did that work, and at such a high cost.

She could have just gone _straight _for the next point without them having to do this, but Zeke was a hard man to please- the Beast Titan, as he was, is undeniably cruel and remorseless in all the senses of the word. Doing things _his _way is the only way whenever he was on the scene or giving them a direct order. Listening to him was also more important in this case because he had saved them and that ungrateful Ymir from certain death after their banishment/attemped execution. Truly, he and Bertholdt were glad for the help... Although Reiner loathed the idea of adding in more bloodshed into this corrosive mix of chaos the last five years, it was seemingly necessary.

Or so it the hairy one says.

The larger boy drew himself out of his crouch and paced for a moment, coming to a thought thereafter. What baffled him was on why Annie had decided having an accomplice with her was such a brilliant idea, but Annie was truly intelligent in her own complicated way. Reiner understood the reasoning behind her saving these citizens considering her fragile heart weighing into the equation, but the logic fell short when it came to the boy she was toating around. He clearly saw her taking great care in bringing in the 'luggage' inside of the fortress with meticulous calculation. She was never so gentle whenever it came to her quarry, man or beast alike.

_I dunno what you're doing Annie, but I hope its for a VERY good reason. Unless she's deliberately trying to get on Zeke's bad side on purpose I can't see why she would waste her time on a single person otherwise. _

Reiner harrumphed at the conclusion and drew himself up fully from his hiding place, his lip thinning considerably more than it already was. He had to finish what he came here to do quickly and it will most certainly get Leonhardt's attention drawn to him; perhaps she would even opt to approach him so they can get the hell out of here together. That was the whole reason for this mess; although the repurcussions had been greater than anticipated when the military tried to forsake this place and leave it for dead. It made his job easier and whatnot, but still...

There was so many questions to exchange and a mission that needed to be closed up. The Scouts would be out here soon before too long and he'd rather make himself scarce before-hand. Reiner was in no mood to be fighting Eren and the rest of the Scouts' freakish elite today since Annie was all they came for. Between aforementioned boy and his familiar Mikasa and that impossible Levi Reiner knew better than to stay no more than an hour at most. There was a possibility that they hadn't been informed of this predicament but he'd rather not take chances.

However, if Zeke knew that they _were _coming if at all, he'd make them stand and fight Eren and take him by force. As far as Reiner was concerned, he felt that they just weren't prepared for that today, but having Annie on hand will make things considerably easier once she actually notices. Nonetheless, the Beast shifter was on his way anyway, so even if the Recon corps. showed up it wouldn't matter supposedly. The affair would be messy, but managable somewhat. Still, Reiner would rather avoid subjecting Annie to direct combat with them since she doesn't have a clue as to what they were doing; no plan, no known backup, a possible lack of energy, and _baggage _on her person god-forbid. There was no way in hell she can last for too long.

Coming out of that crystal prison would have certainly weakened her, temporarily or not. She needs more than a week to recuperate after all the strength she spent in keeping herself alive and safe as far as he knew.

_Maybe teaching Eren wasn't your best idea, Reiner. Smooth. But how the hell are you supposed to know that that same kid could turn around and suddenly become a Titan shifter and Humanity's best bet and your worst enemy all at once?_

Ramblings of the mental chastising sort had become unwelcome but no less frequent to the former trainee, and he couldn't stop them despite his best efforts. However, he knew better than to let that frivolous self-degrading opinion keep him from performing at his best. Reiner was hard on himself at times, but there was no need to fret over something so miniscule.

With Annie's removal now priority, he freed his mind of the niggling doubts and went to his next point, intented on drawing the girl out of whatever the fuck she was even doing.

The quicker they finish, the better it will be for everyone.

* * *

~000~

Armin was speeding towards the basement at a painful near-jog that brought liquid fire shooting up his arteries, his breath forcing his fragile ribs to remind him of their current condition. Annie kept pace just a step or two behind him, her shoulders squared and her eyes hard-set and determined but observing the struggling, puffing boy no less.

The whole crowd of survivors managed to wade into the large basement behind the pair as well, Melandus having relayed that the area was certainly secured after the lesson learned from the last Trost attack some months ago. After a brief scan of the room, the entire group meanwhile dispersed and began to rummage through their surplus in the hopes of having a chance of holding the front until the Scouts arrive. However, that was an 'if' in question. There was no way of knowing if the Recon Corps. had been informed of any changing developments in Trost if their only messengers had been traumatized stragglers on stolen horseback running half-mad into the wilderness; blindly hoping and fleeing into the direction of the nearest district.

There was never any guarentee when it came to this insufferable conflict.

As the soldiers got to work and the citizens went to cower somewhere off to the side, Annie had taken Armin's good limb and pulled it over her shoulders, making the boy stiffen and stare at first. She ignored it in large part and clumsily guided the semi-delirious legionnaire over to the benches anchored into the floor, in front of the fuel stock and reserves. Seating him was no problem; he had half fallen onto the bench heavily and almost dragged Annie with him.

After extracting his surprisingly heavy arm from herself, she went and stood in front of him, eye-balling Armin levely and somewhat distantly. She folded her arms and put in tonelessly, "You should stay here at the headquarters as we do this. There is no way in hell you can continue staying consious like this at this rate, let alone sit up. I can help these peons from here on out."

Annie had at least the decency to let her stern expression soften slightly, as if she was trying to lesson the burden of some horrid truth. She saw Armin lift his head to say something in edge-wise but she held up her hand and added, "I have to be frank, Arlert. I can't be doing this and babysitting you all at once if this were to succeed remotely. You'll have to sit this one out."

Armin may be in copious amounts of pain that would normally blind and deafen one to the advice of others, but hearing this had certainly seemed to get through to him thankfully. She might as well had said straight up, "You'll only be in my way" with the gloomy expression that had escaped him next: He narrowed his eye at this at first, looking quite contrite as he measured the worth of the girl's words. His bleary expression and hanging of the head however informed Annie of what he thought about this without the exchanging of his personal opinion. This evident display of his rueful sentiment though hadn't removed Annie's resolve in the slightest; she was hell-bent at this point on keeping Armin from getting involved in anymore rigorous endeavors.

She just _had _to get to the stupid basement first before the damned scouts did and they potentially screw up several years worth of planning more than they already have. After her latest blunder in Stohess, the girl had conceived the idea of obtaining such a remote treasure as a means of redemption. Capturing Eren had royally failed in nigh-on every confrontational and conceivable way. Getting his power's source was so much more wiser after all.

Her life literally depended on it.

This was not the only goal in mind: Her true intent now while she was in Trost was something several shades darker. She wanted to find these 'other' shifters that the officers had mentioned before and speak with them, if at all possible; but this was something the girl had to keep to herself. The flight here had already compromised Armin's failing health as it is and having him around during her pursuit will certainly betray her real objective to him _and_ endanger him further. Although Armin may not have the power to stop her anyway whether or not he _could _go with her, Annie still felt obligated to safe-guard her captive. It made her feel dirty deceiving him like this, but her mission wasn't without some genuine intent in some way: As far as she was concerned, she did not want to be held responsible for the death of yet another comrade considering Armin's fleeting grasp on life.

Marco's demise had been hard enough.

"Alright," the boy had finally relented, stirring Annie from her sideways recollection. "You're not in the wrong, I guess. I'm not well enough to keep going anyway considering my earlier spell."

His admission left the former trainee relieved, but his next words had her frowning at him in a mixture of annoyance and concern.

"I will rest here for now and I won't get in your way anymore, Annie. I don't want to be much more trouble than I already am. However," he lifted his eye and met her icy gaze. "-I _will _be meeting you at the spike of the situation, at the rendevous point as planned. I'm not staying out of this plan for too long."

"Armin," Her voice was lowering into a menacing growl just then. "-If you get yourself caught up again in some other ridiculous scrap with yet _another _Titan-"

"I know," he interjected. "-You'll leave my 'smart-ass' and head off on your own. I get it."

She didn't say anything else despite the temptation to call him a suicidal fool, but his words somehow didn't seem to sit right with her. As far as she had it figured, she wouldn't be leaving him behind in this roiling hell-hole. If it was deemed a necessary evil as it _had _been with Marco, she probably could, maybe... or maybe not. Armin and his brilliant intellect alongside the perks of having him on hand if Eren was to show up was a boon she wasn't about to pass up. Leaving him behind was a bluff, and simply not an option; whether the Beastly one deemed it so or not. She had gone through too much just to give up on him now.

Although to be fair, he _has _proven to be a hindrance throughout this whole escapade.

She wasn't trying to insult him for the sake of doing so as she had when she first awoken; she didn't want to make him feel like shit. She and Armin had already discussed his worth in the previous town during their hunt for the manuevering gear; and even though he had held her back a couple of days already, his involvement will prove to be fruitful in the long-run. He had enough to put up with as it is. What kind of person would she be if she were to belittle him when he was-

_...Oh. He already thinks me a bad person, doesn't he? _

_-No, I know he doesen't, but he should. I have threatened and kidnapped him early on and I aim to use him once we get to Shiganshina. And then what? Leave him to be Titan fodder or kill him as I said I would? He's very near death already. I shouldn't joke about the insults anymore._

She wasn't so sure about how he felt about some things now. A lot has happened before and after that whole incident in Stohess and she had no way of knowing what Armin thought of her now after her attack so long ago. All she can glean is that he was reluctant to speak to her at all openly anymore except for asking her about their destination and what to do until then. He hasn't said more than this except on the first night of her attaining her freedom, and it had been on the news of the Ape Titan wherabouts and what is happening right now. He played mind games with her sometimes and it annoyed her _grievously_.

He wasn't supposed to be this way.

She didn't see it before because her pain and anger with him was still there, simmering silently, and he had behaved oddly because he was hurt, but she can see it now: He has changed, and it wasn't for the better. Something wasn't right with him. She was still injured by his act of betrayal and she would never readily admit that to him, but he was worse off.

'_I'm glad I can look like such a good person to you.'_

She shook off the stray memory that followed the quote, keeping her stare measured and firm. All Annie could do for now though is sigh and and say, "Stay here and rest for a while so at least one of us could say we've had our sleep."

Armin dipped his head at this, remembering that he and Annie had spent half the night on top of the wall half-awake only to go running into Trost without having a wink of forgiving slumber that evening.

The girl unfolded her arms and proceeded to check her gear, some of the military squadron coming over to do the same. She managed to get her ODM gear in peak condition before she was happy enough to move on. She had turned away to do something else until she felt a tug on her Titan-flesh scorched hoodie.

"Annie, wait."

He released her promptly, just as the girl turned and refocused on the boy sitting there with his good hand half-way suspended. Armin's glistening eye-ball however had Annie nearly tripping in logic when she saw that pearly sheen betraying his evident lament. She lifted her head and blinked in apparent surprise at the expression, her own lip slightly coming open.

"Armin, you're not going to... _cry _are you?"

"I need to tell you something, here and now," he said, his voice strangely sure-sounding and straight despite what his face may have implied.

"It better not be another apology, or else I'll feed you to the fucking Titans," She grumbled in a way to shake off her own bubbling apprehension. Her voice carried within it no true malice, but her own expression seemed a bit more serious.

_I shouldn't insult him; but I can't deal with depressed people well at all. Not now or ever. Hell, I can't even deal with myself when I'm upset._

"No... Well, yeah, but no."

"So which is it? An apology or not?"

Armin finally lowered his hand again and ducked his head further, his eye a strange swath of emotion. He gave a resigned sigh and half-murmured, "Yeah its a stupid apology, but it is about the plan."

"We haven't even put it into motion yet, and you're apologizing now?" The girl blinked and let some hardness bleed into her voice.

Armin shook his bandaged head in a subtle way, so small that she almost missed the notion, "Anything could go horribly wrong here, and my 'plans' normally have been endangering you constantly. But this plan in particular is the most crucial and life-threatening of them all so far. What happens here in Trost will change things between you, these people, and me."

Annie lifted a single brow, her expression now reserved and carefully masked. Her uneasiness only grew.

"What are you getting at?" She inquired in a guarded manner.

"Look," he wheezed. "What I mean is... that my plan, no matter what, is meant to help us... Help _you _get out alive. I just wanted to let you know that. When things go awry, I wanted to tell you personally that I don't want to hurt you anymore, or you get upset with me."

"Well, isn't that what you meant to do anyway? Keep us safe, right?" She cocked her head and blinked again. "-And what do you mean when you say 'when things go awry'?"

"It seems like its meaning is passing right over your head," he gave a grave shake of his dirty skull. He placed his hand on his lap and drew in another breath, ready for another long series of sentences. "Annie, I know words mean nothing to you, so I won't apologize I guess. But I do want to know this; do you trust me, hate me, or anything like that now? We really haven't been in that wilderness for too long, but several days worth of traveling in the manner we did felt longer than that, and it made me wonder."

By now, the warrior girl was confused by his redundant statements and questions. Clearly, his head wasn't feeling too good and his mind was uncertain about where they stood. Emotionally speaking, Annie wasn't mad at him anymore, whether it was about his decision to come here or about Stohess, but that doesn't mean she'll _forgive _the bastard for his treachery. She can forget in a sense, but she'll never forgive. She had already acknowledged that he tried to give her a choice to optionally give herself up and help her see that through, and she suddenly realized she was remotely grateful for the gesture. But betrayal is still betrayal afterall, and 'trusting' Armin was not normally a wise idea in her position.

_It takes a long time to trust, and only seconds to destroy it. However, nothing can count as trust without there being the distinct possibility of betrayal too. It takes courage to rely on someone in such a way._

_A kind of courage I don't have anymore._

"Armin, I trust your instincts, but I can't trust you as a person if that's what you're asking. The Stohess incident gave me a reason why I shouldn't trust you after all, but it doesn't mean that I despise you for it."

The boy had his turn to hide what he was feeling behind a cold mask of 'polite' blankness, but his stare gave Annie enough of a hint of what he thought of the reply. "Ah. I see," he nodded after a few seconds. "Trust is a hard thing to ask of you, so I expected as much. But you really don't hate me anymore is what you are saying, right?"

She went on, "No, I suppose. We both had our reasons for doing what we did, and yet you don't hate me for it surprisingly. Its the same for me. Hating someone for what they _have _to do because of belief is one thing, but hating them for being ordered or coerced to do so is different. Sometimes, it can't be helped. You had to do what you believed was right, but it means being forced to hurt someone. I don't hate you for it, but I don't trust you either. Your intentions always did give me mixed signals."

"Sounds reasonable," He agreed. "Its probably for the better. But I still have to ask though-"

"Shoot."

Armin gave her a fleeting but honest look. The corner of his lip moved in a faint indication of his withering smile. "I wanted to know about where we stood right now, just between us. I mean, you're absolutely right about trust; its fickle and hard to get, and its impossible to have complete faith in each other when it comes to us and what we've done. Trusting each other is too much and too demanding, but it doesn't stop me from relying on you after all that you have done for me while we were out in that unforgiving expanse of Titans and teeth. Its not wise, but I do it anyway," he shrugged. "I trust you, even to a degree, Annie, but I was always the greater fool."

_I find that hard to believe, Arlert. You being the fool couldn't be further from the truth than me being a normal person. _

"That aside," the boy blinked as he went on, his eye slightly aglow in the diminutive lighting of the basement. "I was always impressionable, I guess, so I take kindness to heart, no matter how small or great it is. You have done right by me even whether it was out of necessity or not, and for that I'm grateful. If anything, you were like that even posed as my enemy back out in the expedition. You spared my life where as you could've swatted me like a fly, like you tried with Jean; but I digress." Again with the shaking of his head. "-I guess I'm saying I want others to have that much faith in me as I could give them though, even if its stressful. Well, I have it per se with Eren, Mikasa, and the other Scouts, but its you to whom I'm asking."

That's when he did something so bold it took Annie right off of her guard again, her reaction to his next gesture too slow to stop him; he had in fact grabbed not her hoodie this time, but her ring hand instead, his own palm hot and clammy to the touch. It felt feverish and shaky as if he was on his last threat of life, although it wasn't untrue. Annie stood uncomprehending and unmovable, but her hand had been seized with a surprising tightness in his grip that beheld his desperation and fear. Because of how pitiful and weak it seemed, she didn't fight to immediately take it back, her body instead choosing to stiffen on the spot.

He might as well have asked her to marry him with her stalled reaction.

"-I wanted to ask you was about was how you would felt about trusting me today when and if things should go sideways. Would you allow me the chance to help you at least? To get you out of something that would compromise your life? I want to help, whether or not you'll like it... That sounds bad I know, but it isn't untrue. That hasn't changed since that day in Stohess, or even before then. I don't deserve it, and you've said it plainly, but I want you to trust me is all. Please."

Annie didn't reply; her mind was a slowly ticking murmur of uncertainty and hesitation. Armin looked very much like a dying man asking for his last wish, and it numbed her. He might as well be hugging her with all the emotion his hand-holding was betraying. She couldn't pull away, nor bitch at him like she always did as a self-defense mechanism. It was surprisingly too hard to follow through.

_You... You are... I guess, more like Marco than I thought; it almost sounds like something he would say if he had been allowed to-_

She stopped herself there.

_-Still, you're also pretty similar to that wretched Smith-Commander in a sickening way, as was seen when we met up in that ally-way. What the hell do you want me to say after that? Its too much to ask, don't you think?_

Annie had to tear her eyes from his own remaining one, her doubts returning. She was put off by the vibes he was giving her, but his sincerity was tangible. If she had to be honest with herself, confiding in the little guy meant breaking everything she just said and stood for; it meant crossing over into territory that she swore to personally never traipse again. Her so-called 'trust' had been shattered that day when he gave her those eyes, the ones that bespoke of his fear and confusion and disbelief. He was trying to get her to confess then, sure, but he had long since stopped trusting her himself before he came to her asking for her assistance. This was indeed to much to ask.

He was her captive now, and yet he had the balls to go around and say something like that? This was waving red flags at her of all sizes, and she knew better than to further indulge the lad in anymore of his games. Their latest gamble has yet still no deciding victor as it is. His wavering expression of guilty remorse, his weakening smirk, his shaking hold clenched around her smaller hand, _ALL _of it said, "Please don't trust me", but his words were quite the opposite. When she said he gave her mixed signals, she wasn't wrong.

And she certainly knew better than to continue to follow along in his plan, but here she is, still debating what his promise is worth. She wanted to survive, to go home, to be with her father, to be _human_, but could she have those things? No. Could she have any friends and laugh with them and expect them to be okay with her being a Titan shifter? That's hilarious. Should she be asking this shrewd boy to spare her life if something went horribly wrong?

And to that end, she couldn't even hope to answer that. The one constant about this boy was his sincere desire to keep people alive, but his interpretation of 'okay' for her could be far more twisted than she would welcome. If capturing her in Stohess was his idea of 'helping' her, she'd rather do without. All he was asking was for though this day was for her to lend him her trust once more and nothing else really. However, such a trifle came with a heavy cost and this she was sure.

"Annie, I'm asking you seriously," he whispered between them where the squad couldn't hear, squeezing her hard enough to shake her out of her thoughts. "Will you, or will you not confide in me one more time?"

"...I don't-"

"Hey! Leonhardt!"

Annie just then noticed the waving Melandus gesturing to her from the entrance into the basement, leaving the flustered girl to retract her hand quickly and thoughtlessly. The superior darted a finger over his shoulder and ordered, "It's time to get moving! The sooner we set up, the better!"

"Hold on," she called back.

The girl redirected her attention onto Armin just as he clenched his fist as if he had burned himself, pulling it into his coat as his face flushed heatedly. Annie meanwhile felt her strength leave her, her resolve quivering. Her stomach flipping over itself enough times to make her feel sick and her own hands clenched tightly enough to have her nails digging into her palms. She tried keeping her expression as bored and as expressionless as possible, but it was a ruse that was fast slipping. She felt her eyes widen and her ribs contract onto her lungs, her fear suddenly starting to bubble forth. She was getting worked up over nothing possibly, but she was just too frightened to lend anyone else her trust again. Not after all that they have been through since Trost.

"A-Arlert, I'd better not find you out there while I'm busy," She said slowly, her own uncertainty now eminent to the boy. "So I will have to see you at the-"

"You are dodging the question," he caught onto her fright.

Annie felt her shoulders bunch together as her thoughts began to reel at the risks involved in her current situation. She already told the smartie that she wouldn't, or couldn't trust him again, but still he pressed for it. Eventually, she settled with, "You know that you would have to earn it back through trial by fire as the saying goes."

_Which is unlikely if not impossible in your condition. _

"Be that as it may," he added with a cryptic monotone. "I still have to have a yes or a no for this matter Annie. I'm not asking you to trust me for anything else; just for this situation in the case _if _something does indeed go wrong. After it settles, you can go back to your isolated manner of referring to me. That's it."

"Really? That's it then?"

His reply was sure and quick, "Affirmative."

"Then..." The girl mouthed, her pulse thundering crazily. "-I'll trust your judgement for this time only, today. I would like to believe that you have our health and lives at heart, even if you do not share my intentions. I suppose I'll take it... However, I will _not_ tolerate any more tricks Arlert, or you can forget ever hoping to see your petty friends again, deal?"

"Deal. Wanna bet on it?"

"That's not funny. But... Whatever."

She had taken his olive branch, believing it to be just that and not a poisoness, thorny vine that held like a vice. She hadn't the foggiest on why she would do such a thing after all they've been through, but she hoped it was the correct decision. She actually found herself praying to non-existent gods she never believed in for her salvation. All she wanted was to live.

Asking to go home to see her family may be a bit of a stretch, but living she can settle with. She remembered distinctively that she told Armin about her desire to live during the gear inspection, and that hasn't changed. Reiner may be willing to die to save Bertholdt and her perhaps, but she wasn't going to go that far herself. Never.

_'I want to... survive.'_

"Leonhardt! Get a move on!"

Melandus's deeply throaty tone had her stirring from her thoughts, returning her to what's at hand. Keeping her eyes away from the frustrating lad sitting painfully bent behind her, she then fore-warned, "Don't make me regret this Armin. If you lure me into some other trap, you _will _be very sorry."

"I know. Your trust in my power to keep you alive is all I can ask for," he said. "You've done it for me, and now I want to return it."

"Don't do me any favors," she cut in. "The next time I see you," she said without giving him a straight look still. "-You'd better be ready to get going. I plan on going into Maria _today_. Got that?"

He made a weak, crooked half-smile and waved it off in a manner that made the girl furrow her brow again. "Alright," he said. "'Til then."

Annie's gut instinct was still screaming _don't trust him_ considering that flinty stare of his that he tried to conceal, but what else could she do? The sooner she got done and returned to him, the better. By now Melandus was shouting her name and saying something along the lines of being in a hurry so the girl had to take her leave immediately and drop the subject. Annie did however give Armin a backwards glance and soon disappeared with the rest of the soldiers up the narrow stairway, leaving the boy and the denizenry here with the exception of another small group of Garrison to protect them as a precautionary measure.

_The plan will not fail. It cannot fail. It... shouldn't fail. And I have to straighten up too; I haven't been right recently but fucking Armin Arlert just sees through every fucking thing I do. Damn that brat sometimes. _

_Moreover, I shouldn't have trusted that runt to safeguard my own life when he's nearly dead himself._

_God dammit. What have I done?_

* * *

~000~

The next hour was the most important and decisive, being that of calculated preparation.

Setting up the Titan trip-lines and over-sized 'snares' weren't difficult, but it was tedious and time-consuming. Annie still didn't know why Armin wanted these infernal things placed in such strange spots but he was the genius after all. Aside from that, she had _already _killed all of the Titans in Trost, but Armin had strongly insisted on remaining here and fortifying the place. She could have easily taken the boy and stole one of the boats as his plan later suggests, but the water gate posed a problem. Also to note was that the Beast Titan was likely to clamber over the wall at any minute now. She wanted to have a chance to speak to him if not the other shifters, so that was why she had agreed on sticking around.

Otherwise, she would have long since taken off into Maria's rugged wilderness in her Titan form whether Armin liked it or not.

Focusing on the now, she realized that having a competent assistant helped, and Melandus was proving his worth well. His voice carried orders to waiting men that were loyal to the cause, creating harmonized union as they worked to beat the invisible timer Armin had set for them. His presence allowed said soldiers to work without stress nor chaos despite Annie's lingering threat. The girl and her Titan power didn't seem to bother the men at all and that was just fine with the shifter.

It was strange, but fine she presumed.

Besides, it left her some time to go and search for the others anyway, although so far she had came up with nothing. In the meantime, she had returned quickly and regularly enough to keep the current temporary Garrison 'Commander' from suspecting a thing. There was no harm in searching for the other shifters after all, and one would think a superior like Melandus would elicit such an order to keep a lookout for them anyway. No harm, no foul in that.

As Annie once again returned from yet another unsuccessful search, she came upon the Squad leader who stoically observed and corrected his men with a sharp tongue but not a forcefully harsh and unkind reprimand. Observing soundlessly, the girl huffed and pulled a hank of her hair from in front of her face, the mounting concern from earlier still gnawing at her innards. Armin's words haunted Annie restlessly, so she tried to calm her frazzled nerves with the idea that Armin's intent was genuine in the sense that he really _wanted _to help her as she had done for him the past several days. He had constantly apologized for it as it is, and he was probably just trying to reassure her in his own convoluted way.

More like a fucked up I'm-messing-with-your-head kind of way. Seriously, why did he have to hold her fucking hand for?

"How're the others in point E?" Melandus suddenly piped up.

"Done," the girl answered. "The last of the traps are set. We're waiting for the fifth unit to send their signal now."

_Although to be honest, I have no idea what that is... Shit._

The large man nodded his head at the report, clucking his tongue in contemplation. His hazel eyes were stern and dull, but fretting over his own doubts it seems. He looked up from his supervision and licked his dry lips, inspecting Annie closely.

"Your little blond friend," he finally mentioned after a pause. "I think I know who he is. I just couldn't tell at first, but I think its the same boy."

Annie returned the stern look but blinked lazily, still fussing with her singed hair after noticing her damned tie had disappeared at some unknown interval. Probably when she first dove into Trost she deduced.

"Heard of him? What do you mean 'Same boy'?" She entreated.

_What, is Armin famous or something? That's a laugh._

He gave her a direct look and bowed his head in what Annie perceived was respect, "Yeah. I think its the cadet whose plan saved us a few months back, the one everyone says Pixis has proposed and took credit for in the end. To be fair, Pixis said otherwise but still. Anyway, I believe its that same light-weight who saved the scouts the trouble of finding some Titan-shifting traitor within Sina's confines as well. He is pretty famous 'round some of the staff besides that Jaeger kid."

Annie stiffened at the mention of 'Titan-shifting Traitor', her heart suddenly deciding on palpitating again.

Melandus seemed to have a quick eye though, his gaze knowing and lacking in any other inflection. He added calmly, "I get it now. You're that girl everyone has been talking about, aren't you? The one the scouts have taken down in Stohess, right? I mean, there isn't any other Female Titan other than the one we know of. You have to be her."

Annie glowered at the temporary-commander and squared her shoulders defensively, her hands suddenly resting on her blades.

Melandus quickly held up his hand albeit in an relaxed manner as he continued, stopping her from doing something rash. "Hey, don't sweat it," he told her gently. "My intention isn't to report you or some shit. You saved our lives today already, and you managed to find the kid-wonder the scouts are madly searching for. My only priority now is to last until they show up. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to rely on some unknown and unpredictable variable like yourself for help, but if that boy Armin thinks its okay, then I'm game."

Her only response to that was to keep her eyes away from his own and huff, still not quite settled despite his words.

Melandus then crossed his arms and sniffed, pretending to not see her hands still ghosting over her equipment. "Anyway," he mused. "I was just thinkin'. Armin tells me that despite your checkered history, I could rely on the factor that you and I both agree on a mutual relationship: One born from the shared need to survive. This is why I'm tolerating your presence here," his brow seemed to almost consume his eyes then. "-Which is why I'm not ordering for your capture as well, besides you saving us of course. Why else would I be relying on the infamous and terrible Female Titan?"

_Infamous and terrible. Why does that sound funny to me?_

Annie lifted her head, her eyes dull despite the activity around her and proceeded to ask, "Then, why believe in this concept of survival if not my earlier act of saving this place? Why rely on a pact of mutual benefit and not my attempt at helping you? I could have changed for all you know. Picking out the 'mutual' thing is indeed smarter, sure, but I am curious as to why you came to such an idea."

"Heh," his shoulders rolled as if she said something funny. "You already know the answer to that one, missy. You're a green one despite the impression you leave, and I never pegged you the ignorant type to start with. You're Annie Leonhardt, one of the best in the 104th Trainee Cadet corps. You're famous for your talent as well as your Titan form, besides that other shifter working for the scouts."

The warrior girl suddenly felt almost flattered by the praise, realizing that even though she doesn't care for what people think of her sometimes, gems like that compliment still left an impression on her.

Sometimes.

"Anyway," He went on. "-Your actions are too unreliable; could be part of some other alternative plan to get our trust or destroy us all or potentially both. It has been done before; you and the other shifting bastards out there. You guys fooled everyone with your heroics and whatnot."

"Hmmph. That goes without saying. I'm surprised about how well informed you are about me."

"We were given a run-down after a while," the man confirmed. "Pixis and Smith both permitted the circulation of the info after some great debacle in Sina."

"Ah."

"-Anyway, I found that the need to live is something I _can_ trust on the other hand," he answered with a profound sureness in his voice. "Anything else is just too unreliable; I mean, trust is just a word, but its hard to keep if you don't know or understand what is it you're confiding in."

_That word is getting thrown around a lot today._

The shifter shuffled her shoulders and relaxed her guard somewhat; if Melandus thought in the same, cynical manner as she did, then she perceived it to be safe to depend on.

"Fair enough," Annie concurred.

The girl spaced out again as her mind settled onto her neutral conclusions regarding the man, observing the soldiers below her work as they set into place another hook canon. She almost missed the sudden scurrying of some obscured figures off to the far side of the populace, the very slight corner of her vision just then registering the movement. Annie blearily blinked away her fatigue and glimpsed the individuals close by the only working entrance to Trost, deftly moving towards the top as well as towards the gate control mechanisms.

_What the hell-? What's going on here?_

She was about to turn away and inspect the suspicious action until a large mass began to shadow the burning town as well, forcibly drawing her gaze back towards the opposing side. The bulbous anomaly held precariously onto the thin ledge of Rose above where the former gate used to stand, its advent appearance leaving Annie gulping back sharp bursts of heated air in rapid succession. The girl retreated a step and let her mouth fall slightly agape, capturing Melandus's attention as well.

"Leonhardt? What's wrong?"

Annie didn't hear him; she was too busy staring at the over-sized figure bearing down on them all. It was a sight she had been totally unprepared for despite anticipating its arrival ever since she came here; it was a something whose existance meant her own continued attempt at carnage and human extinction. This thing served as a grim reminder of the mission that had taken a large sum of her life with it, robbing her of both her childhood and normality. Even now, it seemed to break the fragile security of her inner mind and purge the sense of liberation she had barely even clutched at during her run with Armin:

There the Beast Titan itself sat, perfectly perched on top of the slate-gray structure like he owned the entire world.

"Well shit," Melandus croaked sarcastically, trying to cope with his own rising fear. "Your friend's a whole lot bigger than I thought; I think its time to move things up a bit then."

Annie clamped her mouth shut and went to steel herself; just then hearing the large man next to her whistle shrilly in an attempt to grab the attention of all of his subordinates. He surprised Annie further by clicking his tongue again, doing so twice quite loudly towards the men standing behind him. He then turned and motioned his arm to one platoon on the ground team and flashed some hand signals before doing the same to the others. After relaying his orders, Melandus drew his own weapons.

"Captain! We got our signal!"

Annie whip-lashed around and noted one of the officers pointing towards the side of the wall where she'd seen the roving figures, but his hand was gesticulating towards a green column of smoke rising from the brim.

_I don't think I remember Armin mentioning this. _

"Good!" Melandus bellowed. "Get to your positions and await further command! We will defend and reclaim Trost once again, as we had done before!"

A resonating cry rose from the ranks, the soldiers separating to do as they were ordered.

_I shouldn't be doing this. I should be going right to Zeke, not staying down here with these guys. But Armin... I have to stick to my own word and hope he isn't screwing me. I hate being made a liar._

"Leonhardt, you're to stay with me," Melandus clipped.

"...Right."

The girl whirled around and went to check her gear again and her hand to make sure her ring was still on, but her abject surprise and rising panic made her ignorant of what was happening behind her. Noting that it was indeed gone, she felt her breath forsake her body and render her immobile with growing adrenaline-spiked fear.

_My father's ring! God damn it, where did it-?_

The answer was just about to dawn on her until a cloth was suddenly thrown over her mouth and her limbs were suddenly pulled from her body. Her mind just then was comprehending the action of her hands being bound in cloth as well as her body being pinned underneath the shear weight of several sweat-slick soldiers keeping her from lashing out back at them. She thrashed her head around but even then that was stopped as well.

She was totally paralyzed.

"Sorry about this," Melandus said casually. "I lied about not catching you earlier, but its for a good reason. This part of the plan doesn't require the use of a shifter until the scouts get here-"

He looked back towards where the green smoke had been detected.

"Which is about now," he added smoothly. "We can't have you warning the other guys runnin' loose around here anyway while we do this. I knew that was what you were doing by the way. But still, I didn't lie about the other things I said Leonhardt, this I need to clear up. I'm not going to harm you, turn you in, or kill ya; but I _do _have to keep you out of the action for the time being. Understand?"

_A-Armin... He... He __**fucking**__ screwd me! DAMN HIM! I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM!_

Melandus turned and gestured towards some direction Annie couldn't divine, "Take her to the next and most remote, secure spot; we wait for Armin's next move from here on out."

"Sir," replied the auburn-haired woman sitting on Annie's prone legs.

The girl couldn't hope to budge; she grasped at the hope that Melandus wouldn't hurt her as he says, and if Armin had told him to do this deliberately, then she was safe in large part. But why was this deemed necessary if Armin said he **trusted **her? Was this some small part of a much greater and more intricate plan? Or did Armin finally decide he was sick of her and wanted to head back to the scouts after all? That didn't seem correct, but it also didn't sound incorrect either.

No matter how one would slice it, it still didn't stop her from feeling like a cornered animal caught in a painful snare.


	13. To Extremes

_I have an idea for another fic; the one I mentioned being Eren/mika in an earlier chapter. It is a reincarnation fic, and I know there are a lot of those, but what if the Titan shifting, battle-weary canon Eren we know suddenly got thrusted into another world? With his memories disjointed but largely intact while he tries to conform to a world without the Titans, but with something intricately darker standing as his enemy...? _

_Does that sound any good at all or what? If so, I'll be sure to develop the idea more. You all should throw in yours as well! I'd like to make it as convoluted as possible! I kinda got the premise of it after listening/watching Survey Corspe, and man isn't that audio fiction amazing! How many of you listen to it on Youtube?_

_Anyway, read on my sweets. :)_

**_Arc 2: The Second Seige_**

**_Episode 13: To Extremes_**

* * *

~000~

**An Hour Earlier**

It was as soon as Annie had vanished from view and left the building altogether did the legionnaire turn and start firing off orders of his own, formulating yet another plan within the deepest recesses of his dark, drained, bleeding little mind.

It was for the better that Annie should remain ignorant of the boy's ulterior motive, considering that she had her own agenda she's likely adhering to. Armin was just too damn smart for his own good, knowing better than to trust Annie to not go off on her own without her trying to at least hunt down the other shifters and get their help in some way. Trust was a fragile, almost non-existent entity between them, especially after the Stohess plan and the gear inspection so many months ago. Trusting the 'warrior' to not contact these strangers was like relying on an armed convict to watch your back in a crisis situation, thinking he wouldn't backstab you simply because of your usefulness.

Although it was a preverse simile, it wasn't far from the truth.

The lad inspected the shiny momento of the currently absent shifter and huffed, recalling all of the horrid memories that were caused by his overlooking its meager existance. It was Annie's ring no less, sitting idle on his palm but faintly warm from both his body heat and hers. He moved his wrist enough to allow it to catch the torch light not too far away, his guilt crushing him in waves of overwhelming pressure threatening to rob him of his sanity. Taking it from her during his talk with her had made him feel absolutely shitty, but it was needed this day. Grabbing her hand flustered her enough for him to take it while Melandus appeared in the door way to retrieve her, making the girl feel more embarrassed and less likely to detect it slipping from her hand as she withdrew it.

_Its likely she'll feel more inclined to kill me if not torture me altogether for just doing this next time we meet. _

It was a good plan, but he still knew it had costed him her frail, meaningful trust dearly. Deceiving people like this often left Armin feeling just a little less human each time; it was bad enough that his own faint heart was still broken over what he has done to countless others with his constant scheming and enacting horrible plans while he served the Scouts. Throw in his shooting someone and braining them not so long before, and it just makes him feel like the absolute worse person he could've ever met.

Although, he wasn't like Annie and her blatant show of merciless slaughter thankfully enough, but he doubted he could put himself above her actions. Now that he thought of it, wasn't he like her in that way, killing so many consecutively within recent months so to meet his own ends? Both feel bad for their actions, but it never stopped either of them from hurting others let alone themselves.

_I really should stop thinking of it that way. It's not helping me one bit._

Meawhile, Armin was acutely aware of the baffled citizens and their scrutiny close by; surely thinking the boy's newly given orders insane since they have been lead to safety and had no intention of leaving it. At the very least they didn't have too, but Armin's intention of dragging their protectors along and leaving them without a single man to guard them here made the lot a nervous, messy rabble. The boy's crafty and newest addition to the original plan had the Garrison soldiers grumbling to themselves as well, sharing their unopposed opinion of refusing to leave this place with the citizens: However, Armin goaded them on and sheparded them out towards the exit after they had assembled all that they had required here. The basement now empty of resources, the boy put on his thinker's face and stashed away the ring into one of his satchels, keeping the pouch firmly secured to his throbbing waist.

"We need a pair of lookouts to get up the wall," he ordered them as they were leaving. "We'll have to keep an eye out for the Recon Corps for when they arrive. Have a signal flare on hand as well, and have the horses ready to go for when we phase over the next plan right after."

"Sir!" came the expected response from the hesitating soldiers.

_Its probably not going to happen, but I hope the scouting legion will come: this phase of the plan relies on their aid. Its a large gamble, but its paid off before. I'm sorry about the deceit and for what I have to do though, Annie; but our survival means a lot to me as well and it means I'll have to lead you on for now. I will give back your ring, make no mistake: And then, it will be up to you to decide if we can go on like this. I'm still so very sorry for this, but you need to learn to not run away anymore._

_Not there is anywhere to run too._

"Wait!" One of the people stopped Armin from departing by tugging on the hem of his raincoat. "You can't just l-leave with our only means of survival! We have to have at least-"

"Dammit Gerald! Again with this shite?"

Armin saw the young woman from earlier drag the struggling man by the collar back towards where the rest of the people sat huddled. He had to fight a rising snort from his frantic display.

_'Gerald' huh? I remember. He thought I was untrustworthy and tried to give me a hard time when I came to rescue them from that broken bolt-hole._

Armin turned to face them, saluting the confused denizenry while trying his best to look professional. Whether or not he was fully clothed in uniform didn't matter; he was still a scout at heart, and therefore Humanity's servant and best chance and bulwark against the Titans. This service included coaxing the now currently fidgeting people starting to mumble about their current predicament.

"Everyone, please," Armin held his salute as he spoke, trying very hard to assure the last survivors of his sincerity. "I am not going to leave you without some protection; These men here are simply being relocated to a more strategic post outside; this said, they will be of more use manning the traps laid out about the square. They'll still be around, positioned where they can identify future threats; acting as sentinels on the structure itself. At the same time, they will be ready to lead you away from here if things are to get more dangerous."

The babble stopped, giving Armin the impression that he finally had their cooperation.

"Listen," he removed his hand and raised one of his blades instead, posturing a bit for show. "You all have to understand everyone, as one of the scouts, as one of Humanity's soldiers, you have my word that you all shall remain safe. No Titan nor its shifting counterpart will get through our guard and plunder this place again without it getting hell from us. You all will be moved before it happens."

"Pfft, to where then!?" Gerald screamed again. "There is no where else to go!"

"The Scouting legion is on their way right now, and you will have an envoy sent to fetch you and shuttle you else where," the strained boy lowered his sword again, his arm unable to continue suspending the suddenly hefty weight. "The Titans have already been cleared out anyway, so at worst all you have to worry about is your wounds. The situation is now under direct Garrison regiment control. The incompetence of the previous District Captain has been noted and he has been effectively replaced. You all have my word on it."

_The lies just keep coming from my mouth. There is no way of knowing if the Scouts got the memo._

The aforementioned citizen went to argue, but the woman smacked him one outside of his half-burnt and grizzled head.

"I said shaddup! You heard the lad; we're to stay here unless something happens outside."

Gerald glared at the woman that was now presumed to be his wife considering their treatment and familiarity to each other. He then rasped, "Well, something always happens anyway Rachelle! We've been through hell **twice** this year as it is!"

"Just trust the soldier to do his duty," she replied in a thick accent Armin hadn't noticed nor heard before until he reflected on it. The woman went on in a cautionary but firm voice, "He had saved one of our own earlier from that gaping monster and you've got the bullocks to be mouthing off to him? Unlike you he seems to know what he's doin'. So shut your cake-hole and go lie back down; ya need to rest your head before I'd be doing that for you."

Satisfied with this woman's belief in him, Armin was about to turn and leave until he was once again stopped. He had to force himself to not sigh audibly and dismissively.

"Sir, we truly thank you, but I need a second of your time," an older woman came forward and muttered somewhat breathlessly. "-And I know you should be leaving now, but I have to ask you this before you go... It will bother the dickens out of me if I don't ask now."

"Ah, sure?"

The boy gave the woman the courtesy of his full attention despite her buying into his time. He really needed to get outside before the Beast Titan came lumbering into the district, but he supposed he was too tender-hearted to say no. If it was a simple question, then there was no true worry; other the fact that he _did _indeed need another minute to catch his breath and remind himself of Annie's earlier concern. His wounds were giving him greater trouble the more he moved and so listening to her query should give him a chance to recuprate.

Probably.

"Arlert, shouldn't we be heading out or what-?" One of the men formerly from Martinez's squad approached and somewhat meaningfully reminded him.

"I know," he affirmed in a heavy draw of breath. "Just go on ahead to the surface and check to see if the surrounding perimeter is clear for the horses; I'll be up there by the time you see if there is another Titan running about."

"Roger!" The smaller man rapidly spun towards the rest of the Garrison soldiers waiting for him by the exit-way.

The scout faced the woman just as a hollow-cheeked man walked up behind her, taking her shoulders into his hands with his narrow hazel eyes a plethora of emotion. The woman clasped one the hands herself and squeezed a silent gesture that could only be understood between them.

Armin gently encouraged although in an hasty manner, "What is it?"

The elder woman wasn't old enough to be so haggard, and she looked about as kind as she seemed uncertain of even asking Armin about what was on her mind. She look quite troubled if anything now that she finally got a hold of him. She hesitated for a few more seconds and then inquired in a tiny voice, "You aren't same Armin Arlert by some small chance are you?"

Her question is met with a genuine response of startled curiousity. "Well, yes," he mumbled. "How do you know who I am, ma'am?"

"Its just... our son," she looked like she commited a horrible crime with how she appeared. She flicked a quick glance over her shoulder at her presumed husband. "-He mentioned you sometimes in what little he wrote to us. He's always been a catankerous sort but he means well. Last I heard, you and him were placed in the scouts together with some boy by the name of 'Jaeger'."

The boy tilted his head at this, "One of the 104th perhaps?"

She paused, nodding eagerly at the guess. Seemingly enthused, she went on with, "Well yes, he is. My real question was if you know Jean, right? Jean Kirchstein?"

Armin sat in place, suddenly realizing that the man standing behind her indeed bore Jean's more elongated features, but he seemed to have a habit of keeping more to himself and staying off to the side unlike his son. His wife on the other hand had less in common with the missing teen than Armin thought was possible for a pair of the same blood. The only resembling factor she had was that she _did _have his same hair color in some part, if not a shade darker, but that was it.

"Y-yes actually; he's my friend," Armin forced the stutter out of his speech. "-I trust Jean and his judgement more than most when on a mission. He's hot-headed but a good person. Why ask?"

_And he helped me recover from my shock at realizing I shot a person in the head. He's also very loyal and brave, down-to-earth when one needs it. I owe him a lot._

The woman's frail smile flitted onto her face, but it too vanished before long. "I'm so happy to hear such words from you about him; he usually offends most people he meets. Knowing he has friends who rely on him makes me proud. I wonder though; have you any word from him as of late or any idea that he may be alright? Or if he's coming here with the scouts as you said? There had been so much chaos resonating from Sina's core that it has proved worrisome. He stopped writing to us as it is!"

The intellectual prodigy of the 104th could only feel his spirits sink at the honest inquiry. He didn't know for sure of what became of Jean; after his earlier plan was enacted on the Beast Titan back in Stohess, Jean had gotten caught up within the maelstrom alongside Mikasa. There was no real way of knowing for sure if he was okay.

_I don't want to tell anymore lies... Can't I go one day of my miserable life of not doing so these days?_

"L-last I checked..." Armin muttered. "He was alright several days ago. We were actually detailing a plan together. Other than that, I haven't seen him around; things have been hectic lately."

It wasn't a total lie at least, but the statement was lacking in what the troubled pair were looking for. The disappointment was so obvious that the boy felt it eating into his already sunken spirits.

_Dammit Armin, you've should've said something else! You should've had the guts to lie a little to them as you did Annie! And you lied RIGHT to her face. Shit._

"Ah. Well... Thank you for telling me anyway," Mrs. Kirchstein let her graying head droop. "I suppose we'll know by the time the day finally rolls around. Thank you, Armin. Truly. I apologize for wasting your time."

"Don't worry about it. You are concerned parents in need of answers," the scout too bowed his head, feeling even remotely envious that Jean even had family left. He never really mentioned them now that he thought about it. "-You haven't wasted my time at all. Jean should be glad he has such wonderful models left in his life. You'll be here when he returns, in which I am sure."

_Stop it Arlert. Stop spouting shit._

Mrs. Kirchstein said nothing, but her earnest smile was enough to give him in answer what her suddenly missing voice could not. She then dipped her head and would've curtsied for all Armin knew, but she was too emotionally drained herself to follow up. Her sullen-faced husband who had been silent the whole exchange merely inclined his head at his wife and pulled her along gingerly, wrapping his long arm around her thin shoulders in comfort. Such love was rare in the world, and it made the boy wonder if there will ever be a time where everyone will be like that.

Perhaps, if the Titans go away, they could.

Armin meanwhile returned the smile as much as his stiffened face would allow and clapped his fist to his heart for the last time. He gave them all a parting goodbye and was soon galloping up the stairs where the soldiers had vanished previously. Once he was outside, his waist chose to once again threaten to cripple his efforts, but he strode forward with the others with no regard to his personal health.

_I will stop the damned Beast Titan and his lackeys DEAD in their tracks. I swear to the holy Gods and on my life: I'm not letting any more parents fret about their missing sons and daughters anymore. _

_I will personally see to it._

Sworn mental oath aside, the following way to the next point was clear of Titans for the moment, but that didn't mean a damn thing in this rotten world. A lull like that can change in only a matter of a few precious seconds. It only encouraged haste in the Garrison, their only lead on command being a barely-conscious boy quickly maneuvering his way through the crackling streets who started to eventually fall behind.

Again.

Armin was eventually forced to stop his nervous horse and attempt to pace his erratic breathing, his dried windpipe clenching around his apple painfully. The animal below him was one of several surviving beasts that managed to evade the Titans hours before, the frantic mare having been rendered to the boy for his personal use due to his noticeable injuries. It still a far-cry of being the 'gentlest' emergency animal they had but Armin knew better than to dawdle or complain.

The creature's momentum in the meantime had made it hard on the boy to concentrate, let alone alone steer the willful animal. The constant thumping motion was making him sick to his empty, churning stomach and it was jarring his fractured bones. The impatient horse bobbed its massive wedge-head and pattered the ground in anxiety, its own body braced for a future battle its rider cannot endure.

Armin felt his waist burn and sear at his wakefulness like mortal hell-fire, his hand already wondering over to it instinctively without his realizing it. Closing his eyes, he could feel the steadily building warmth and bloom of the blood with every feeble pulse. His heart was starting to bang ridiculously against his painful ribs again, his fear of death itself just then returning. He had said he would die for Humanity's glory and all so long ago, but the plausibility of it still no less terrified the lad.

_My life is on borrowed time at this rate. Annie was right; I should have rested more while I had the chance. I haven't even begun to heal appropriately._

"Arlert! What's going on back there?"

The boy grimly but calmly regarded the underlings in a professional manner, his last eye blinking slowly. "I'm winded is all," he fibbed yet again.

_And there I go with burdening everyone else again..._

He spurred the sweat-stinking animal forward and joined with the entourage, his tear-streaked orb trained onto the gate marking the very borders of Trost. The rising plumes of fire and smoke had been a real pain on his eye but he was still able to see well enough through the smoking haze. Armin wasn't the only one at least; the Garrison grunt he was with now were exhausted and caked in soot as well. Some lifted their arms to swipe away some the darkening grime from their dirty faces and free their vision.

Stopping in front of the crested barrier, Armin took his steady time in dismounting the frustrating horse in order to check his wounds. He sighed at the sight of the newly stained gauze but at least it wasn't as bad as he had thought. Relieved in some part, he in a clipped manner ordered for a pair of men to climb their way up the wall. They did just that, the remainder idling off to the side preparing their gear and reviewing their plan.

_Now we wait._

Armin seated himself against the wooden wall of a simple resident house, stretching himself out and trying to level his crazed breathing. He attempted to rub out the soreness he acquired from riding the horse on the way here, trying his best to take Annie's advice to not kill himself faster. Terse moments would pass by in this way, the soldiers leaving the scout alone in large part while they awaited the signal that would change all of Trost. Minutes lapsed without much distinction, Armin failing to comprehend the time creeping by.

Armin shut his eye and concentrated on resting as much as he was permitted to do, his head a quagmire of pain-streaked blips and images lacking individual words. His concern for Annie grew as well, knowing full well that Melandus was likely capturing the girl by now. He bit his lip at the thought, feeling just as horrible as when he betrayed her not too long before. She probably felt hurt and used for all he knew, thinking Armin a dirty traitor that she will personally finish off when she sees him next. The boy could only get reprieve from these thoughts when someone shouted a frightened warning that drew everyone's attention.

"The Beast is here!" Someone hollered only meters away, making Armin's head throb again needlessly. "He's one top of the wall on the South side!"

Bolting up onto his feet with a quickness he didn't know he had left within him, Armin took in the sight of the furred abomination almost leisurely sitting atop the mega-structure like he was observing a good show. His large hands fastened to the rim of the slightly cracked wall while its shape was highlighted by the colored flames caught within the eddies of smoke and heat-wind. His face couldn't be seen at this distance, but Armin recalled what the animal-like Titan looked like since that day not so long ago.

His heart began its trepidatious hammering in horrified anxiety: What if the Recon corps. didn't make it on time? What if his thrown dice had all the wrong numbers for this predicament? That meant he crushed Annie's feeble trust for nothing, and he would have to throw some men at the incoming threat and figure out how to run away at once. He pondered on his alternative plan but felt his queasy gut clench at what would have to be sacrificed if the legion didn't arrive soon. After all, Erwin had always been the one with the back-up plans; Armin had only previously proposed mostly the initial ones prior to the plan to capture Annie.

Fuck.

_Well, I would have to throw some bodies at the enemy anyway..._

Such a dismal and sarcastic thought didn't have to linger long thankfully; suddenly a hissing noise from the wall's top roused the boy's sluggish attention. It temporarily stopped his frantic heart at what it could possibly mean, his palms getting sweaty at the sight. Elation would go screaming through him though when he saw the green flare going up and up until it vanished into the brackish clouds above.

"Sir! We have confirmation," One of the men next to him bellowed, his eyes trained onto the dully-colored plume above. "Its like you said sir: The Recon corps. is finally here!"

The news only got better when another soldier yelled from the wall, "They have fired a matching smoke round indicating that they have seen our own! They will be here shortly!"

Armin couldn't have felt more tired and relieved all at once. The idea that Eren and the rest of his friends could be among them sent a live-wire current thundering through his veins, reinvigorating him all at once. He temporarily forget his infirmities as he shouted back, "How many more minutes until their arrival?"

"Three and counting!" came the positive response.

"Good," the boy sighed. "Let's get back on the horses and prepare for their arrival!"

_Its just in time too. I don't think I can make it at this rate without them. _

The good cheer was suddenly sucked from the atmosphere when an earth-throbbing pulse ruptured through the already broken streets, knocking some of the Garrison off of their feet. Armin grabbed at and hung onto his rearing horse, fighting to bring it back to all four of its feet. It took a few seconds of crooning at the stupid bucking beast to calm it down, trying to simultaneously ascertain what in the wide world that noise was. The legionnaire craned his neck fully to look over his shoulder as he tugged on the animal's reins, feeling his face fall as he glimpsed what had caused the reverberations:

It should have been obvious really; the Beast Titan had finally decided to come down from his spectacular perch from on high. He had jumped the last couple dozen meters on the way down to save some time. Straightening himself out, he gave a lazy once-over across the entire district as if in search of something before Armin observed the ghastly gigantine fur-ball tromping on over to the road that would take him to the headquarters next. The great furry head was somewhat slouched against his wide shoulders as if all of this was a great waste of his time, his expression calm and without fear of whatever hid not so far away from him.

_He might be looking for the earlier sign of a shifter; Annie's transformation perhaps. It seems my plan to lure him in worked somewhat; I just wonder if it did the same for the other shifters...?_

"Sir, do we open the gate n-now?" A soldier had asked while he tried his best to keep his composure.

"Yes!" Armin hollered at the very top of his cracking voice, his throat feeling quite arid. "Open it now and be ready to ride with them to battle; I will have to give them a basic update first, but it gives us time to split up. We take back Trost today, for good!"

_It officially begins: Annie, I only hope you won't hate me for this._

* * *

~000~

The Scouts have seen the gate opening for their arrival not long after they have witnessed the rising, fluttering smoke round.

Erwin had fired the matching signal and followed it up with a crisp order for the legion to converge onto his location, spurring his messy white stallion into a quicker gallop. Hanji stayed right alongside him, whooping ceaselessly into the charred, darkened heavens like a wolf on a mad hunt, waving wildly at her soldiers right behind her. She shivered in that unusual way that normally betrayed her imminent excitement at the thought of being so close to new play thing she recently acquired as well. Moblit could only shake his head at her display and would've rolled his eyes; but he rattled the reins instead and matched the scientist's brisk pace, prepared to stop her from practically leaping off from her own skittish steed.

As for Levi's reformed team, Eren felt the sweat fall from his temple despite the colder air swirling outside of the super-heated Trost. The autumn wind did nothing to cool him and his boiling blood down, already feeling the building anticipation of what lay ahead. He felt Mikasa's eyes fall upon him yet again as they had several times throughout their bumpy ride throughout the Titan-filled territory of Rose, ignoring it except on the occasion that lead to their prior conversation about Armin's well-being in question. She was obviously thinking the same thing he was now: If the aforementioned boy was really in Trost with Annie. If he was, Eren was resolved and prepared to kill the girl this time; something he couldn't do back in the Stohess operation.

_No chance we'll take her alive this today. I'll rip her to shreds in-between my own teeth for sure; her, and those treacherous sons of bitches! All of them; every single rotten one!_

Jean came into view from the corner of his peripherals, his face a petulant mask of unbridled rage and concern. His teeth were seen baring themselves as he pushed his horse on, likely seeing in tunnel-vision as far as Eren can glean. Trost's unfortunate attack had put the teen on high alert and pushed his wrath into boundaries that were considered dangerous for a young man his age to have. However, Eren understood the feeling; losing Shiganshina had been enough for him and Mikasa, who has lost two consecutive homes in her lifetime.

Still two too many in his eyes. Nobody should have to go through such Trauma again. Not even that horse-faced asshole next to him.

"We have a ten-meter and a twelve-meter behind us at one 'o clock!"

This had snatched Eren's attention from his sideways thoughts: The scouts had abandoned the formation so they could squeeze into the Trost opening, but just as they amassed into a relatively straight line they perceived the warning only then. Eren and the majority of Levi's squad saw the bumbling giant swaggering over clutching at its sides in a mad frenzy, while its shorter partner moved in an unnerving break-neck speed. Despite this, Erwin threw out his last arm and shouted for everyone to stay close and keep on course.

"I think they're aberrants sir!" Another relayed off to Eren's side. "We have to stop them now!"

"Do not engage," Erwin shouted more loudly still. "-We can and will lose them when we've entered the district area! Everyone remain en route!"

Eren forced himself to avert his wary gaze from the oncoming threat and did as he was instructed, staying loyally behind Levi while giving Mikasa a cautionary glance. The girl returned the expression and dipped her head at him, her eyes betraying the grim hope of making it into Trost without losing anyone else this time. Her normally stoic face seemed to betray the grim if not feeble hope of finding Armin as well alive.

The Special Tasks squadron thundered on and managed to slip behind Erwin's team seamlessly, eyes forward and hearts crashing like the titanic footfalls behind them. Sure, Eren could take out these flunkie giants _easily _in his Titan form, but that was a waste of time and energy that he would need inside of the infested territory ahead of them. God knows what shifters lie beyond the borders of the Trost; Mikasa and Levi as well could do the same, but Erwin's orders were orders. It didn't seem to matter that the man has given his leadership status to Hanji: He was still a superior simply by experience and rank.

The scouts floored it as they went, squeezing together into one jumbled line of stinking men and panting horse and rumbling wagon. Ignoring the unpredictable Titans behind them, which was hard for the shifter to do considering after what happened in the last expedition, they drew ever closer to the yawning gates in front of them. Eren relied on the fact that their animals were assuredly faster then their enemies, and he also knew better to trust Erwin's instincts more than his own at times. Still, he was as nerve-wracked as any man around him. By now, Mikasa and Eren were so close together that he could feel her leg brushing against his own, their animals heaving sides scraping together.

And it was when they have rushed half of the legion into the district did Erwin scream, "Close the gate!"

The heavy stone and brick door had started to slide free of its purchase above their heads, coming down with enough force to crush any man, animal, or giant caught beneath its descent. Erwin's timing though couldn't have been more perfectly executed; the last of the scouts had just managed to slip through before it tumultuously pounded against the earth and stopped the incoming deviants from sprinting inside. Their corpulent bodies were heard thumping against the barrier not even five seconds after the gate had sealed shut.

It had been way too close.

Erwin then sharply ordered the restless men to stop their horses, the tired animals in need of a good breather after such a desperate and narrow escape. It was as soon as the scouts realized that they had indeed managed to get through without a single loss of life was when a resonating bellow of victory broke amongst their ranks. They had manged to get from Sina to Trost in as little as a day with hardly a death to count.

As the many pumped up their fists and roared, Erwin had caught sight of the one lonely figure standing on the far other side of Trost. He perceived its size and shape to be somewhat recognizable if not tell-tale, and a great frown shadowed his chiseled features. The Former Commander was soon flanked by both Levi and Hanji's apprehensive teams, who were somewhat shocked at noticing the absence of Titans save for the unmoving Goliath many streets over. It seemed to have noticed them, but it did not give any inclination of doing so.

Eren and Mikasa blinked in mild surprise as Jean asked what was exactly on everyone's minds, "What the actual living fuck is going on here...? Where are the other Titans and what is that thing doing over there? I thought this town was under duress."

"As I thought as well," Moblit gave the former trainee his agreement on the matter. "The messenger didn't seem to have lied about the destruction, but this anomaly is without any explanation."

Hanji had tossed in with a high voice, "A good if not profound observation everyone! I think its safe to say that that lovely specimen over there is the Beastly one no less-"

"Hey! Scouts!"

A tall Garrison subordinate who was presumed to be the Squad leader jogged up to the entourage, followed by a small team of his own and a single cloaked figure adorned with a Recon Corps. Grade raincoat trailing behind. The somewhat under-sized soldier was vigorously pushing past the Garrison grunt at an awkward shuffle that betrayed he was injured seriously, but nonetheless he was saluted by the larger soldiers around him. His breathing was labored, loud, and his broken arm was thrown up into a loose sling while gore splattered alongside his slight frame on his left side. Wheaty hair bounced on top of a bandaged skull, the gauze overlapping his right eye topped it all off. He wasn't much to look at at first, but that was until Eren and the others heard him speak did he seem so much more.

"Armin Arlert reporting in, sir! I have a message to relay," He wheezed, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the entire brigade and slapping a shaken fist against his bony chest. "-The Beast Titan is here alongside some other undetermined enemies: It is possible they are Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover! The rest of the Titans on the other hand have been dealt with however, so we need to concentrate on regrouping and launching a counterattack before they get the chance to stop us."

Eren felt his heart literally stutter, his mouth coming slowly open while failing to notice that he and Mikasa both were already more than half-way off of their horses and running towards the petite legionnaire thoughtlessly. The pair forcefully shoved their way past their own leaders and their adrenaline-high steeds without a single care nor regard for their brazen behavior. Even the normally quick and surly Levi wasn't fast enough to order Eren to freeze, although he too was just as shocked to see who it was that was giving the information. Connie was sputtering incredulously nearby and Jean mumbled a few well-placed expletives in regard to his surprise. Hell, even Erwin, Hanji, and the remainder had been silent the whole time this status update had been relayed.

Armin Arlert, their missing comrade and childhood friend was standing resolutely before their very eyes, worse for wear but _alive _no less.

Eren failed to notice his burning, blurring sight as he charged the lad. Armin only just then comprehended his friends bum-rushing him as they snatched him up into a mortal and unyielding embrace; his sight flickering dangerously since he was jarred by their weighty collision. The pair proceeded to crush the air out of him next, Armin's fractured ribs more like a shroud of thorns curling and biting into his body as well as around him.

"G-guys..." He whimpered with a distinctive crack in his feeble voice. "You're h-hurting me. Please, I-I know you missed me but-"

"Armin," Eren gasped, his whimper silencing the object of his concern and relief. "I-I can't fuckin' believe it-"

The shifter's words were lost as he buried his face into Armin's thin and shivering shoulder. The smelly cloth blanketing him was disgusting but Eren never cared. Mikasa was rendered speechless altogether, sucking in air like she was winded from running endless miles. She lessened her strangle-hold on their lost companion somewhat, the corners of her eyes moist and threatening to run like a turbulent deluge. They clutched at Armin with no apparent idea that Jean and the others too had dismounted their animals and converged onto the endearing scene, voices high and excited and their hands outstretched.

"Holy fucking shit; is that really Armin?" Jean stopped just shy of the growing crowd, his face slack-jawed in awe and worry. He had apparently noted the pathetic state of the boy's health and paused, as if touching Armin was a bad idea altogether. Connie and Sasha on the other hand acted like they were on a sugar-high, yanking Jean in unceremoniously so he too join in on the hugs.

The sobbing had grown quite audible and irritating but was only briefly tolerated before their Squad leader cantered up. Levi rearrested their attention onto the present with a derisive "Tcch" and shoved his black horse towards the gabbling, sniveling teenagers. He wasn't trying to be cruel, but this was hardly the time. "Oy oy brats, look here and stop that fucking balling. We have a situation to deal with before we can hug it out and cry like pissy babies," he growled.

Erwin inclined his head sadly just as Mikasa glowered up at the short man, the others moving reluctantly away from the struggling center of their attentions. "He is right," the enigmatic man stated with a grim expression. "-We have to act now if we want to stop the other Titan shifters out there. Focus is imperative."

The whole of the surviving 104th trainees withdrew from the ragged Armin, who tried very hard to reclaim his lost breath again and fight the obvious discomfort burning at him from within. Eren and his oriental shadow both looked immediately apologetic for their roughness but Armin had waved it off.

"'S'okay guys... I'll be fine," He bowed his head and huffed again.

Eren placed his hand onto Armin's shoulder and squeezed lightly, his emblazoned molten emeralds alit with his apprehension. "You don't look it," he trailed off, not at all fooled by the boy's act.

Armin shook his grip off and plastered on his warrior's face, his eye glittering with ambition Eren found most puzzling. He grunted with a stern air, "Worry later, Eren. I have a plan I need to explain, fast."

_You always have a plan, Armin. Like always. I'm glad to see that hasn't changed, but something doesn't seem right with you. Dunno what it is._

Eren felt his lip twitch at the corner, feeling like he should say something but that vanished as soon as Erwin approached. His natural, venerable and authoritative presence brought Armin's gaze onto himself instead of his now concerned friend, "-You said that the Titans were gone and there are shifters around, correct? I need more of a thorough run-down before we can render any quality or effective assistance."

Armin's bow furrowed so deeply that it looked strange and uncharacteristic. "Yes," he replied, saluting yet again. "I need you all to follow and do as the Garrison does; they know the plan. I can't explain everything now, but it will be made clearer as we go along."

Levi's glittering eyes were chips of sharpened steel as he woodenly asked, "What of Leonhardt? I know she brought you out here; we all do. I don't plan on doing _shit _until I know for sure she isn't able to interfere. Where the hell is she?"

_Now that I think about it; Armin mentioned the other fucking bastards but he didn't say anything about Annie._

"That's just it," Armin somewhat shallowly grinned for the first time since their arrival. That did creep Eren out a bit. "-She's around and alive, but you needn't worry about her getting into the operation again."

When he withdrew a tiny metal band from his satchel and held it up to them, a clear wave of shock was visible upon all of their faces; including the normally expressionless Levi. Annie's ring was held like a trophy in his thin hand, a familiar object to both Eren and Mikasa especially.

He added with a mystifying tone coloring his lowered timbre, "A member of the Garrison, Captain Melandus has her within his custody by now. Annie helped remove the Titans surprisingly, and she gave me her consensus to come here and-"

"NO FUCKIN' WAY!" Jean roared.

Mikasa's expression was suddenly lethal, her usually calm demeanor suddenly brimming with glaring animosity. "Impossible," she spat. "She took you away to hurt us. What do you mean by 'consensus' anyway? You were her prisoner I take it?"

_That's what I'm thinking._

"I said I'll explain later guys!" Armin put the ring away, a choleric tone building into his normally soft timbre. He added almost defensively, "She's helped out and that's what matters, albeit unknowingly..." That last part was sheepish and weak sounding. He quickly shook that off, "Right now though we need to get going before that 17-meter wad of hair gets ahead of us. He probably _already _saw and heard you guys when you came crashing in here like hell itself was on your ass-"

"It kinda was, Armin. Did you not hear those fucking Titans out there?" Jean almost shouted, but he remembered to keep his voice modulated for once.

Armin was seen glancing over at where the Titan was, looking very nervous as it hadn't showed any signs of moving. Likely, it was trying to observe them.

"-Look; we don't have time for this," Eren heard Armin's tone take a turn for the vexing and irritable. "We have to get into position before the other shifters take notice of Eren, if they already hadn't that is. I need you all to separate into three groups and leave Mikasa with me. Someone needs to spear-head the second platoon and have them follow the Garrison down the main road to draw their attention," Armin's breathing had gotten fast and his voice almost whispery at this point, trying to rush out his orders before his heaving chest failed him. "-Levi's Special Tasks has to round the area with a pair of Garrison who knows the plan; they'll lead them to the next point and await my signal. I need to meet with Melandus and retrieve my bait so this can work."

_Bait? Does he mean Annie-?_

Eren blinked a few times in confusion, but Armin left no room for any to question him; the majority of the scouts were about to mutter something until Levi inclined his head at Erwin in a, "Should we follow this plan or what" sort of way. However, it seemed that Erwin was all in as he bellowed, "You all heard him; Hanji, I need you to lead the other team so you can get the enemy's attention. I'll take the first."

"Alrighty then!" She chirped. "That'll be easy!"

Levi gave Erwin an odd look and raised a thin onyx brow, but he didn't comment thankfully. He gesticulated to Eren and the others and ordered the lot back onto their horses.

Before departing, Eren gave his friend one last squeeze and added with a more hopeful tone, "Try not to get yourself killed Armin. I'll see you soon and we'll have to catch up after this. Alright?"

He didn't much like the superficial smile that appeared where there should have been a more genuine one. At the very least, Eren felt a little better when his hand was squeezed back by Armin's unhindered limb. "Yeah. Sure," He waved off. "After this is over."

_Why is he so distant?_

"Jaeger! Get your ass in gear! We need to move now before fur-face gets a lock on you!" Levi clipped.

"S-sir!"

Eren was reluctant to leave, but he knew Armin was in safe hands; Mikasa's no less. He clambered back onto his horse and began to follow a couple of Garrison soldiers who were waving at them. He fell into a soft trot with an anxious set of comrades right beside him, his mood darkening. He did look back at Armin, who had gotten Smith's attention again.

"Do you have any of the hook canons as well? Your wagons like like they're fully stocked, and I needed some more weapons like that. Your men would have to place them in a key point," Armin said impossibly fast.

"Yes," Erwin confirmed without any inflection. He seemed to have caught on though as he asked, "Where do you need them stationed?"

And all Eren could say to the following look on Armin's face was that he was thoroughly put off by that growing lop-sided smirk; that could have been someone else wearing his friend's face for all he knew.


	14. His Solemn Word

_Happy Valentine's day people. I love all my fans who read up to this point, so you all deserve this. :D_

_I didn't much like the last chapter, but meh. At the very least, you all will surely like this one; its extra long, but it wasn't like that on purpose. This is where shit gets real, believe it or not, which influences its length: So anyway, let there be mayhem bitches!_

_*evil laughter*_

_Also, forgive Annie's sassy thoughts; she isn't in a good mood for a reason. She's going to be rather mouthy and inconsistent this time around because she's feeling very betrayed at being bait against someone she was trying to help. A big Whoops on her part. No spoilers here, but I dare say the conversation at the end is long overdue as well; but tell me if its too much anyway. I felt like I HAD to add in the extra dialogue at the end, considering that the chapter would've been too short otherwise._

_ANNNNDDDD chapter 1 has been very much revised. I'd take a look again for those of you who are curious. The sentences aren't so run-on and I amended some words, added new commentary (very few), and other shit for good measure, so the chapter is a good 100 words longer at least. If it still seems weird, I guess that's how it'll stay._

_Enjoy everybody. *mwah* to all of you. :)_

**_Arc 2: The Second Seige_**

**_Episode 14: His Solemn Word_**

* * *

~000~

She shouldn't have trusted that insufferable little fuck.

Annie had tried and failed to mentally picture what it was that Armin Arlert was really after; but the entertained theories were simply left without logic and reasoning. His true intents and purposes were shadowed by his sugared deceit and false belief in her trust; the instability of his mind a tangible and frightening force: It had been made apparent since that day of her awakening, when he goaded her on about what she should really do while wearing that expressionless mask of his. He said she was running away again, that she should 'ante up' and do something to actually kill him instead of leaving him to be eaten by some random passerby giant. Can't leave him to die like that now can she?

Hateful, ballsy runt.

She told herself numerous times during her run with that brazen bastard that she acknowledged his ailing body and mind, to be wary of whatever underhanded tricks he could've devised because of his condition. She fucking _knew _the entire time that she was with the piss-ant that he was clawing his way into her head bit by bit. Armin was glaringly smart, and he had used that against the other shifters before as testament to it. Sure, he had only made a passing mention of the 'incident' when she first arose from her catatonic slumber, but she already got the gist of it: He pointed out that he'd lied to Bertholdt about her well-being, manipulating his feelings so he could grow both emboldened as well as callous and incidentally lose Eren in the process. It had happened the day that her fellows were discovered. Armin had explained the story during their days spent traveling together; he had caught her up on _all _of the recent happenings of the interior.

Well, to be honest, that _was _Reiner's fault, but still.

Ever since that day of Reiner and Bertholdt's escape anyway, Armin had studiously been employing different variants of the same 'cunning' strategy in his fight against their enemies over and over. No one had caught on to it miraculously, but someone should have by now.

First, he'd pretend to be innocent, guilt tripping most of his sympathetic foes, lie, and then lie some more, then lie until his enemy is confused/mad, and then he'd be at this point either hurt or otherwise. Despite this, he would still goad them until they are utterly distracted by him, then they would have fallen into his snare without realizing that they'd set one foot into it; by then he would continue to lead them on until FINALLY his enemy would blunder their way into the stinking trap. Fucking smart-ass did just that with her back in Stohess, and in the expedition after their first encounter; he followed her and fooled her into engaging him, Jean, and Reiner all at once!

It was the same roundabout thing! Hell, he probably did that back when he was a weak kid being bullied; she'd imagined he was this good because of such a situation. Practice makes perfect as her dad always told her. Lying, cheating, and risking both his mind and body over such a stupid cause as to defend humanity or so he says. Can't he see that it was pointless to keep helping them? They hurt themselves as it is. The titans were merely aberrations of the humans' filth: One chose to wear their disgusting nature on the inside whilst the other wears it on the out. There was no saving such fools.

Then again, Annie didn't care; she just wanted to go home. Why was that so stupidly hard to ask?

Well, as far as she can surmise for now, Armin was about to give the shifters lurking here in Trost a little something to remember him by before too long. In the meantime, she sat on the back of the boy's pissy horse whilst Armin himself guided the tiny team to their next phase. Who she didn't expect to see today however was a familiar face she absolutely loathed beyond measure: Mikasa galloping behind them no less, giving Annie the good-ol' stank eye with Melandus and another pair of hand-picked rifle experts astride her. This team of six (which included Annie herself) were making their way to an intercept point so they could get to the Beast before the other Scouts did later on. To be honest, Annie hadn't a clue as to what Armin was doing anymore, but she'll soon find out. His plans seemed to be all over the place these days.

Stopping behind a largely intact building, Armin nodded at Melandus and gesticulated up, the lanky man returning the nod and leaping from his nickering horse. He used his maneuvering gear to ascend to the still-smoldering top of the structure, disappearing seconds later. He wasn't gone no more than five beats before he was coming back down and striding over to pluck Annie from the animal's rump. He tossed the captive over his shoulder like she was some burlap sack, compelling her to knee him in the ribs. Hard.

"Ouch! Dammit Annie, stop! You'll be fine dammit. I told ya you're safe, so stop struggling."

_Damn you all to the last deepest, hottest pit of Hell: I'll struggle as much as I want._

"For fuck's sake girl, quite moving! Ack... A-anyway, he'll see you when you fire the round," Melandus relayed despite the wriggling distraction on his bony shoulder. "Are you sure I shouldn't try to converse with him first or something? You don't look like you're doing too good."

Armin shook his head with a firmness that left none to argue to with him. "It's fine," he stated. "You and Mikasa simply stay out of sight and keep an eye for Bertholdt; in the case if he's even here that is. He may shoot for Annie for all we know since he can't use his Titan form for anything decent, other than smashing in walls and other titans..."

He trailed off and shook his head at how stupid that sounded; Bertholdt was likely to be much more useful in other tactics than most would suspect. He then amended with, "On second thought, keep a special eye out for Bertholdt actually; he and Reiner are dangerous together as it is. I'll distract the beast and get him talking long enough for Smith and the others to get into position."

Mikasa walked her horse over to Armin, her coral-colored lips puckering, "The Ape Titan won't fall for this ruse a second time Armin; you used this tactic back in Stohess when he first showed up; remember? He's likely to remember this and make the comparison; do you really think this will be any different?"

_Yeah; and it always seemed to work no matter who is on the receiving end. Same fucking strategy... Hmm. It seems that even Armin Arlert is losing the infallible Mikasa's faith in his planning though. So its not just me then who can see his change in personality?_

Annie felt her eyes dart between the pair, feeling a terse air build where there should have been undisputed trust. Mikasa was irritating, but at least she wasn't ignorant when it came to those she considered her compatriots. The scout knew something was wrong with Armin on an instinctual level; strange as it was.

The boy merely closed his last eye and smiled at the face of the girl's skepticism; a gesture a little less forced than what he had been giving in the last while. He assured in a calm manner, "It'll be fine Mikasa; I'm sure the Beast would like very much to indulge into the little game of vengeance I have cooked up. I have Annie, and she's his whole reason for being here: To that in which I'm sure."

"Vengeance, Armin? Really?"

"Yeah... Ah, no actually. If I had to put it in a horrible, archaic, simple term then yes," he concluded. "Look, I've played him the fool last time and we trumped him for it; you, Jean and the others made sure of that. Considering what little I was able to glean from his gestures and what he was willing to sacrifice, I'd think him a smiliar type as Erwin: A calculating type but colder. He wouldn't be out for petty revenge really, but its more or less like a game where you can better yourself. He encountered an enemy who bested him, so I would wager he'd try to make the odds even."

_Like how you see things, huh Arlert? Pfft. It takes a smart-ass to know one._

_Although, I think our General just may surprise you._

Mikasa blinked, her expression now shifting to her more familiar phlegmatic mask. Her voice still contained her lingering doubts however, "Alright, Armin. I'll watch for the others, but if that gigantic hairball so much as swings at you, I'll be taking you out of here first and leaving that-" She finally spared Annie a glance as if in thought of a more suitable insult for her, but she could only shake her head after drawing a blank. "-You know what I mean. I'm leaving _her _behind and getting you back to safety. Eren and I don't want a repeat of last time."

"Not if it compromises the mission," Armin shot at her in an almost heated way. "Annie's more important than me in this instance: She needs to stay out of enemy hands at all costs."

_Oh I am so flattered that he's thinking of saving me first. I hope he can go fuck himself._

Armin dismounted his horse without another word and minute wasted, handing the oriental girl the animal's reins and proceeding to prepare himself for the leap up. Melandus was already clambering back up the side of the building with Annie kicking away, Armin soon shadowing him.

Mikasa looked on with what clearly looked like doubt etched onto her face, her eyes locked onto the boy as she went to her assigned position with many a complaint left unheard. Annie didn't see where she went however; Melandus was jostling her while Armin lagged along beside him, his breathing a sharp series of ragged rasps. Once at the top, Annie was dropped onto the tiled roof with enough force to make her bottom briefly sore. Armin went to stand in front of her whilst Melandus turned to leave, his hazel eyes concealing his concern well, but not well enough for Annie to not detect.

"Be careful, Arlert. You don't need me to remind you that these plans never go exactly the way we want them," the man admonished.

Armin nodded at his words, rummaging for his flare gun as he said, "Sure, but that's why I have overlapping back-up plans everywhere; be rest assured. Just keep an eye on Mikasa though; she'll forsake the plan in favor of saving me and Eren if she can help it. She's trustworthy, but has a one-track mind at times and it interferes with her judgement. She and Levi are strong enough to take down Bertholdt and Reiner in their human form, so keep her around if you can. Seeing how Levi is positioned elsewhere for now, you'll need her."

"Dully noted, but alright. We'll do what we can on our end; just be sure you're just as careful on yours," he replied. "I might not hesitate to send in miss Ackerman if something goes awry. I don't much like the idea of leaving some kids in charge of this delicate operation as it is."

Armin shot him a half-hearted warning look, but the man quietly ignored it; it wasn't within Armin's nature to even pretend to be a tough bully like Annie and her cynical bluster. The Garrison Captain would then spin on the ball of his heel and leap away, his departure made clear by the _pop _and hiss of his clanking gear. Staring after him _almost _reproachfully, the boy gave a slight roll of his last eye and pulled out from his satchel a gun and cylinder with a silver band crossing over the barrel; an acoustic round if Annie wasn't mistaken.

As he locked it in place, he then said much to Annie's surly surprise, "I'm sorry for taking your ring, but I had to be sure."

The girl simply scowled at him in answer, shuffling her shoulders irritably. She couldn't throw him a scathing comment because of her gag, but her eyes were jagged, frosty points that bespoke of her rancor.

"-I know you put a lot of faith in me when you said you would help, Annie. Its more than I can ask for," he rubbed the stock of the gun in uncertainty, his busted lip suddenly a whole lot bloodier with his nibbling on it. He kept his eye from meeting her own, aiming the apparatus skyward and placing a hand on his ear despite his useless arm. He must be in a stupendous amount of pain considering his grimace, but he kept it out of his voice relatively well enough much to his credit.

"...Just remember," he added. "I meant what I said back in the basement: I didn't lie about those things I promised... I fully intend on helping you out of this mess when its over; just you wait and see."

_Too late to redeem yourself Arlert. When I get free, you'll be __**very **__sorry. This wager is about to come to an bloody end. Holding my hand __**while **__lying to my face is the last thing you're gonna do to me._

The boy's bloated finger squeezed around the trigger; unleashing the round in the process: A high pitched ringing noise followed as expected, capturing the attention of his intended target lumbering ever closer to the headquarters just blocks ahead. It was a loud, clear, and distinctive resonance that drowned out the rest of the surrounding racket in the burning district. It threw back Annie's memory to the time that Levi's team outsmarted her back in the forest of Giant Trees, when she first heard the sound that marked her imminent capture. She figured it would be very much the same here, considering the circumstances.

However, much to her horror, even if the Beast Titan could have missed it (and she was pretty sure he didn't), Armin still felt like it wasn't enough. The ballsy brat just had to _yell _at the damned thing for extra measure, making Annie's gut twist up inside. Her innards grew cold and hard, her heart suddenly skipping a beat.

_What is he doing-?_

"You! Titan!" He pocketed the gun and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Look over here! If you're looking for Annie, I have her right here!"

The gigantine subject of his abhorment paused, his narrow eyes unblinking and his immense body stiffening. He lingered there for about a few seconds more before he finally inclined his head in an deliberate and relaxed manner, slowly looking over at where the boy stood.

"Right here, ugly! She's right fucking here!" He bellowed even more loudly.

_Are you __**trying **__to piss him off or kill yourself quicker?!_

Annie suddenly fought against her bindings in renewed fervor, her eyes growing wide with her advent fear of the inevitable. She inched her bottom across the shingled roof and tried to crawl away, but Armin hooked his foot into the knot holding her legs together and dragged her back beside him. He hadn't removed his eye from the 17-meter the entire time; his glassy pain-fogged orb was a calm sheen. He dangled his arms at his sides as well, moving in closer to the desperately struggling Annie while balling his fists.

It took another moment for the Ape-ish one to see her through the smoke-choked gloom, but once he had a lock on the girl, he began to sidle over in long, purposeful strides. He was already on top of them in less than a heart-pounding minute, his hulking shadow blotting out the ashen-colored sky. Slumping his exaggerated and hairy shoulders, he bowed his huge head and squinted down at the blond pair beneath him.

His expression was blank in large part, but Annie knew better: Zeke was probably trying to figure out how they got here, why she was tied up after the initial light of her transformation, the absence of the Titans, and why Armin was still alive after their last meeting. He probably already guessed her treachery for all she knew: His steady, stony gaze was incomprehensible and without feeling, giving her a clue as to what he was really thinking.

Fearful of her life, the girl tried to rip the bindings on her wrists by rubbing them against the shingles of the roof-top more vigorously. She never thought she would be more scared of Zeke than she is now. Hopefully, she can draw enough blood and pain to induce a transformation if not break the ropes entirely. Running away seemed ridiculous, but she had to _try_.

"You came to get Annie, right?" Started the boy, not at all put off by the intimidating aura his enemy exhumed. He moved a bit to show off his prisoner, boldly declaring, "Well, here she is; the real deal. Go on and take her, if you wish."

_Armin you bloody idiot! He isn't going to be fooled by this stupid little farce of yours; its an insult to our General's intelligence. He's likely to-_

A deep rumble emerged from the opposing giant, his over-sized cavity of a chest giving a mighty heave as if in laughter. It was more like a scoffing motion at first, but it was enough to make Annie freeze from her ministrations. Her heart suddenly seized and dropped somewhere into her large intestines, her breathing growing constrained.

_**"Annie," **_He finally bellowed, his voice thick like mud. He sounded not at all insulted, but more stern and exasperated at the girl's plight like a tired parent to his delinquent children. He inclined his head and harrumphed, _**"-Shame on you. Now why are you tied up like that? I thought for sure you know what happens when you lower your guard around the humans here; and now you're this runt's prisoner? Tsk tsk."**_

He might as well have threatened to smash her into a pulpy mess instead of mockingly jeer at her, reminding her of why she shouldn't underestimate Armin's intellect in the first place. He was likely inclined to punish her for it later; Zeke can be a cold-blooded man at times. That's when he spared Armin a glance as if he just noticed a buzzing gnat hovering in front of his large nose. Showing his formidable teeth, it bore a clear sign of his ill-will towards him; he probably recognized Armin too from their last meeting as well.

His voice was paper-flat when he said, _**"Boy, surely you do not take me for a fool?"**_

"...No, I don't," the soldier affirmed, his voice somewhat sardonic, if a little shaky as well. He was trying very hard to hide his apprehension, but Annie knew him enough to know when he's scared. "-I just take you as the type to leave if given what he wants. The whole... 'leave us in peace' bit."

Zeke shook his under-sized head at him, tutting at the boy seemingly. He took his sweet time to reply with, _**"...In other words, you perceive me as stupid. You should know better than to mock me like this. Now why would you want to hand the girl to me this time after trying so hard to keep her from me the last?"**_

"Perhaps I just wanted your attention," Armin retaliated. "Maybe I just wish to exchange information for Annie instead?"

_Seriously__, Armin, what the FUCK are you doing? He'll do more than kill you at this rate! You're just insulting his intelligence with this act you're putting on._

The Beast Titan suddenly squatted down to get more eye-level with him, his sickly puff of super-heated breath wafting over them. He moved an elongated limb to scratch at an itch behind his puny ear, very much calm in demeanor. This confused Annie a lot: Normally, Zeke wouldn't waste his time talking to a sarcastic non-shifter unless he was trying to learn something from them, or better understand their language. Truly, he must be willingly indulging into Armin's obvious game he had set up between them. Surely he knows the brat was buying into his time on purpose so the Scouts can finish up with their traps?

Well, that was an obvious 'duh' really. No one has ever pulled a fast one on the Beast Titan and managed to live to tell the tale. Even Reiner and Bertholdt together (strong as they are, Annie reluctantly admitted) couldn't take him down if he went all out on them, in theory. Zeke could take as much time as he wanted for all he cared, unlike the barely-standing Armin who was very likely to pass out at some given time.

_**"Hmmf. Your bravado is foolish, but admirable," **_Zeke snorted, his inflection-less voice drawing Annie out from her distracting thoughts. His last comment may be a compliment at first glance, but she knew he didn't really mean it completely: He probably figured Armin as purely daft at best. _**"You are... only guessing that I'd leave with Annie peacefully."**_

"Is it a bad guess?" Armin tried. His eye was serious, his timbre modulated despite being of a diminutive size to the giant in front of him. However, Annie knew that measured look of his: He used it on all of his enemies before him.

Zeke was similar to the lad in some ways though in terms of calculation. He would indulge Armin and play along for now; possibly out of boredom seeing how he was choosing to squander his time here playing games with a brat.

_**"Perhaps," **_The other grunted. Talking in Titan form was still difficult even with working lips; his speech was filled with pauses and slow syllables. He would stop for a beat before employing the use of a longer word, his chest taking in air with a great, gusty inhale. He then mused to Armin after another brief break, _**"You are not... Incorrect in a way. I have no interest in doing the work of my underlings, so leaving after getting what I want is not an untrue possibility."**_

"I suppose then you would leave, but still return to finish us all of eventually?" Armin inquired.

The behemoth gave a slight huff; holding a conversation in this form an obvious difficulty. He gave a mild shake of his grizzled head next, like he was trying to ignore a likely growing discomfort lodging itself into his leaned forward just a bit more and said almost loftily, _**"No no. That is a loaded... implification, dear boy. I have my warriors to do the job for a reason. You've seen this in demonstration, I'm sure." **_

"Yeah... But they haven't exactly done a good job lately, I'm sure you know."

_Thanks a lot for that, Arlert. Now I'm REALLY going to hurt you._

_**"-You are... right. Still, they have done well enough to keep them from being removed though."**_

That statement chilled both blonds to the very bitter marrow in their bones. Armin didn't even know what he meant by that but it still have an effect on him however. Annie on the other hand was shaking like a leaf at the prospect, the boy not noticing her apparent fear.

"Removed?" Armin frowned at that the cryptic use of the word. "What do you mean by that?"

Zeke gave a lazy wave as if to push the whole matter away. He added that with a very _slight _sneer, _**"I will not indulge such details, for it is a waste of breath. You have no information that I'd want to hear anyway in exchange for the girl I could so easily take from you."**_

"You don't know that," Armin kept his composure quite well, his voice a slight questionable lilt that held feigned innocence.

Stamping out what was left of his hesitation, he tentatively stepped closer to Annie's side as if in preparation of a quick escape in the case that the titan before him got bored... Which wouldn't be long it seemed. Nonetheless, the gesture was subtle; as if he was just shifting his weight from one leg to the other in an inching motion towards the girl. Armin wasn't stupid enough to lower his guard even if his plan to get Zeke talking had worked; if anything, he was even more alert seeing how Annie noted his clenching mandible and stiff shoulders.

"-You haven't even asked me anything significant yet," He mused to the giant, his lips curling upwards just a smidge. "Personally, I think I may surprise you, as I had last time."

Zeke normally didn't use insults; he found them annoying and useless, but he wasn't above using them when he felt particularly cruel or needed to emphasize a point. He lowered his voice into a level above whispering, his expression more cunning in nature. _**"And why should I ask? Any answer I get from you may be obscured and hooded. You are a human soldier, your loyalty sworn to them in ways that mean you will die on command for such. Knowing this, continuing in this banter is merely a waste of time. I might as well take her now and leave this town to burn, boy."**_

Armin cocked his head, not at all perturbed by the growing anger of his foe. Annie eye-balled the lad and belatedly realized that his mind has already conjured up a solution; even if it looked like Zeke may smash him at this point. He was so perfectly calm that she was sure that his surrounding allies in hiding were just as unnerved about it as she is.

_He has something in mind, but what could he have that the General would want?_

_**"-Moreover, I know for sure that you have employed Annie's... voluntary assistance," **_The words were hard on Zeke that time. He proceeded to draw himself back to his fuller height while remaining in a squat position._** "-With the removal of the threat around here, it would seem obvious after all... There is no other way that the Titans would be gone unless one of my own warriors has helped you. Such an act is deemed treacherous and it leaves me to question my subordinate's true motivations."**_

The girl felt her overall insides tighten up and vanish, as if someone had gutted her with an liquid-nitrogen dipped dagger. Her spine was suddenly a rigid, icy mass lancing up her torso as her body clenched in abject, shame-faced horror. More than ever, she was _sure _that Zeke will make her pay for this after he was done with the runt in front of him.

For her own sake, she was starting to hope that Armin's gamble will pay off for once.

Said boy however smirked and shrugged nonchalantly, "Okay, that's understandable: You wouldn't want Annie back after such an act. Just be assured that it wasn't her fault."

The Titan didn't seem (for what it was worth anyway considering his unmoving expression throughout the entire conversation) at all convinced. He simply hissed next, _**"Don't get me wrong; I will still take her back. I will not leave her with your lot to be put to use against us. So are you going to waste my time by trying to justify her actions? Because now I grow weary of this discussion."**_

Armin refused to let the conversation drop; he pronounced rather fast, "At least humor me in this: Does this affect whether or not she can return home? You never know of one's intentions fully; it all becomes conjecture at some point. She hasn't helped me in the sense that it would benefit humanity, but for your own ambitions rather."

The question was a bit of a surprise to Zeke; and even more so for the subject of their conversation. The turnabout and additional wall of verbal protection Armin had given Annie was flimsy, but it sank in no less. However, the Beast Titan's own somewhat amused quirk of the muscled brow was all that gave the blonds any hint of his surprise, let alone his contemptuous perception of the girl's defense. Not at all was he convinced that Annie was all for their mysterious side it seemed.

_**"What, pray tell, do you mean?" **_

He seemed to willing to continue the game for now; perhaps for whatever Armin knew that his warriors couldn't give him. Placing his elbows onto his knees, he kept his face as placid as a brick wall. Zeke was a real pro at putting on the ultimate poker-face but it just may be the how the Titan looked Armin and Annie wondered.

"...Annie's actions affect your mission, right?" The soldier stepped forward, surprising his cohort with his audacity. "-If she were a real threat to it, or were to be more of a hindrance than originally ascertained, than it's safe to presume that she should be eliminated... or replaced, right?"

Zeke gave a curt tilt of his tiny skull; to which Armin could only guess that meant "yes" in some way. To Annie though, it only served to continue to pile on the horror and regret of her earlier altruism. She wouldn't die per se at first, but Zeke would still require the use of her 'powers' by passing them on if needed. The following act of doing so would _then _finally be the end of her.

But she had no damn intention of getting eaten, no matter what the General himself said.

_**"Perhaps, small one," **_He gave another dismissive gesture._**"-But what of your survival? I am sure Annie had kept you alive throughout the previous territory after our last battle. Your injuries suggests aid in that. Try to justify her act in saving you, runt."**_

_Seriously? He's __**still**__ playing this game with Armin? He just might actually be very bored right now or-_

It suddenly hit Annie as to why the General would continue in this idle banter with the dying 'runt' in front of him: He was buying more time for the others himself as far as she can gather. Annie darted a glance at Armin and tried to kick him lightly in the calve, effectively getting his eye drawn to her briefly. His mouth was hung half-open in preparation of a reply to the earlier accusation, but he clamped it shut and took note of the girl's frightened glare. Annie may not particularly like the boy now, but if he was as good as his word in the basement, then he wouldn't let her down. He wouldn't want to hurt her, right? So she'll believe that for the time being.

She was at this point only doing this for her father after all; not for Zeke, not for Reiner, not for Bertholdt, not for _anyone_. This whole quest to get to Shiganshina had solely been for herself, and if this whole plan was what it meant for her to achieve those means, then so be it. As it was deemed at this critical juncture, Armin was the ONLY one who could get her home at this rate. Annie would have to work with the boy for now, no matter his deceit, to get what she wanted. She killed for it then, and _will _do so again. She wasn't so sure she would say she _would_ kill Zeke, for that is utterly suicidal and very foolish, but she did swear to go home; no matter the cost.

She had already paid for so much of it in blood as it is. Why stop there?

"Well then," the legionnaire pressed on, removing the girl's stupefied spiral of thoughts. "I'll just sum it up for you: Annie had a long-term plan in store. I was previously her captive, allowed only to live by benefiting her personal ends later on..." By now, the larger individual looked very bored of the dialogue, but Armin once again re-arrested his attention when he told him, "-She kept me around for the sole purpose of showing her the way to the Jaegers' secret in Shiganshina. I'm sure you've been enlightened on the whole thing by Reiner and Bertholdt, right?"

The giant hairball leaned in some more, as if truly intrigued by this shift in topic. _**"You mean to say, you know where the residence is then?"**_

"The same," Armin said. He apparently gleaned that Reiner had coughed up what little he had been informed of by Erwin some time ago, during their induction into the regiment. It only made sense that he would tell Zeke of this little development after his escape into Maria.

_Armin, please don't answer anymore of his questions. For your own god-damned sake, just don't say anything else. Haven't you already got what information you wanted? You have his full attention too; the whole point of this discussion. Just hurry it up already, damn you._

Every time he plays a new game with an opponent who was by all means someone you shouldn't be fucking with, Armin gets only bolder and harder to read. This was a fact that Annie has learned throughout her past interactions with the soldier; having gambled against him and lost numerous times. He was about as dangerous and unpredictable as the foe in front of him: And as if to prove that further, Armin forced out an artificial smile; a something that filled Annie's arteries with sub-zero ice. She told herself earlier that she hated the boy for his plotting, but a weird, barely noticeable part of her still felt very cold at the prospect of him being slain or abducted by Zeke.

With a bold confidence that continued to make Annie cringe, he rambled on, "I mean, Annie had the right idea of going after the basement instead of a living target that can fight back, wouldn't you agree? So one should assume that getting the source of Eren's power in Shiganshina is by far a smarter means. Now that I think about it-"

Armin folded his thin arms against his scrawny chest in consternation, his mind buzzing. "-Your presence here and the fact that you're still going after Annie suggests that you haven't found anything to give you a true ace over us. If you had Eren's power, you wouldn't need Annie's weaker attributes, right? And if you _did _have that power to start with, then you wouldn't have bothered to attack the districts in such a sporadic manner. You could have gotten Annie's crystal without having to show up in Stohess at all, or expend as much effort; probably." He ducked his head and furrowed his brow just then. "Although, that is only in theory..."

_Armin, please. Shut up... Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up. Just... shut your fucking mouth. You're insulting him and that's not something most people, or his enemies for that matter, get away with._

He had thrown out the bait; and now there was something on the hook.

This was a fact that Annie was suddenly very afraid of: It had been contrary to what she has been telling herself earlier in regards to the whelp who trapped her, but she didn't care much anymore considering what it meant for both of them in the future. She always told herself that she never wanted Armin in such horrid danger as of late, but now there was no getting out of this ditch he dug for them both. Zeke's slight curl at the very _smallest _corner of his wrinkled lips was hint to that; Annie knew from the very tiny nuance flickering into being. What the Hell was he ever thinking, trying to trap the Beast Titan like this?

And now they were both dead meat.

* * *

~000~

Zeke was fully aware of Armin's lure, but he was still settled on and confident about taking both the boy and Annie.

There was no telling if he had been insulted by Armin's insinuations, but his motivations were very clear-cut the next second there-after: Lunging out with a speed that was nothing short of a blink of an eye, the Beast went to snatch up the pair in a dizzying motion that was impossible to dodge. Armin stood his ground however, his fear only visible with the subtle shiver snaking down his arms; the golden hairs arching along their length. The only saving grace for he and the prisoner had been a pair of riflemen Garrison in Melandus' squad. Somehow, they shot the Beastly monster in both his eyes surprisingly well, blinding him in the process. It was deemed a seemingly impossible shot from where they had concealed themselves, but Armin wasn't going to complain.

The attack allowed the boy to grab Annie and get away, pulling the girl into his arms and jumping behind the building as fast as his feet can carry him. It was a clumsy maneuver filled with pain-induced misery, but his shaking arms and uncoordinated hands managed to get him down well enough in one piece. He crashed onto the cobble street below, the strength in his legs fluttering out for just a second. Dropping onto his knees he released Annie and coughed, his mind a jumbled whirl of blurring imagery and back-up plans and splintering nerve endings.

"Armin!"

Mikasa reappeared with his horse in tow, ushering the winded lad onto the animal and throwing Annie (unnecessarily hard) into the saddle as her friend recovered. Armin quickly got his breath back and took to the stirrups, keeping his rump off of the seat since Annie now occupied it. Both Scouts then took off in a rush down the side road that would lead them close to the docking area, hearing the clamorous stumble of now angry shifter backing into a building.

Zeke couldn't believe that the ploy had worked on him: The rounds that had peppered his eye sockets were simple musket balls and black flare rounds; the damage wiping out his sight if for the moment. Doubling as both damage and a smoke-screen wasn't bad admittedly. It was a lucky shot fortunately for his quarry, but it would only do so much. He didn't move from where he was immediately since he was a calm individual in nature with his own snares in mind. Moving in a blind temper would certainly put him in a compromised position, so he did what was expected of a professional shifter in a such a predicament:

He covered his weak spot and _roared _to alert the others in the area, the titanic bellow as powerful as an collapsing building. It shattered the glass panels in the closest structures around him as it is, shaking the loosened bits of debris free from tops. Armin and Mikasa didn't let such a move distract them however, knowing that Zeke will be right on their ass before too long. If Annie can prioritize healing in one eye in as little as half a minute, so too can he; if not better.

Mikasa lagged behind as instructed by Armin and his arm waving; the boy letting his panic-mad horse take the lead. Annie was almost thrown off but Mikasa had tied her down to the saddle well enough to keep such an occurrence from happening. As the fear-stricken animal thundered down a _very_ open street, the shifter was felt to be fidgeting and struggling behind Armin constantly as if to loosen her binds. The boy stared at her for only seconds before turning the horse towards the area where the giant boulder had been originally located prior to Eren moving it. Armin's path was zig-zaggy in nature due to whether it was something of his own volition or the stupid horse swerving wherever it wanted. Either way it was hard on Annie's gut as the movement jerked her to and fro, her teeth clenching around the gag while Armin's hand flew to his side again, a new coat of crimson slowly bleeding out from under his palm.

By now, Mikasa had vanished from sight largely, but that was something the scout anticipated as well as strode for. It was better that she wasn't seen with him for if/when he is attacked by another interloper; surprise is by far a better ally then numbers at times. Armin's projected path was intended to lead his enemy to think he was trying to run away with Annie, but it too was a luring tactic. If the other shifters here already haven't seen Eren and his squad by now, or seen Hanji running at the Beast Titan after he was blinded, than it was safe to say they might give chase to the boy and his squirming prisoner. They had to go after one or the other; and Armin had a plan for any scenario.

Suddenly, a loud _hiss _and crash announced the arrival of his next phase, as expected.

The noise belonged to a cable being shot from a set of ODM gear; this Armin knew from typical experience. The hook itself clamped down into a wooden wall on the other side of the street; it source nowhere to be seen. It finally cut off the horse's unpredictable fear-driven route, the crazed animal tangling its fragile legs in the wire and flipping over. Snapping bones were heard as the horse screamed something terrible, its riders flung from the saddle and landing on their own side and front unceremoniously.

Armin yowled and groaned as Annie shut her eyes and mirrored the boy, her shoulder on one side now dislocated. The force of the throw and the fact that she had been tied down had pulled her arm free from the socket within the first lurch; landing on it only making it worse. She couldn't move her hands to remedy her problem, so Armin had to bite down on his own discomfort and drag himself over so he can sit her up, moving her limbs despite the rope keeping them together. It was going to be hard to work with such an injury considering his own fractured arm choosing to nip at him; but he had to try and help her. He quickly evaluated her left shoulder and rigidly held her upright.

"Hold on, Annie; I'm going to set this straight."

The aforementioned girl blearily blinked at him and nodded; bracing her light body for the incoming crunch. Placing his shivering hands in the right areas, he counted to three to mentally prepare her and popped her joints back in deft fashion. Annie's sudden jump and muffled yell made the boy tremble with self-contempt, but he steadied her and patted her back for a second before standing up. While she recovered from the assistance he lent her, he withdrew a hunting knife from his satchel; the very same one they have kept on hand the entire venture so far. He had no intention of using it, so it was entirely for show.

Armin braced himself for whoever had crudely stopped them, straightening Annie out and encouraging her to get to her feet. Biting his lip again for the one-hundredth time that night, he blatantly ignored the footsteps resonating from the alleyway close by and moved to stand with the fuming female directly in front of him. One hand went to her now-stiff shoulder and the other clenched around the knife handle in a sweaty shake. He moved the blade until it met Annie's creamy throat, trying not to vomit in disgust of himself when Annie obediently stood frozen in clear recognition of the bitter bite of the tiny tip against her.

"Its just a bluff, Annie. Please don't be scared," he murmured.

He didn't have enough time to see her next reaction; for his stare was immediately drawn to the stocky figure that had crept up. A sensation of chilling cold suddenly pressed into his neck as well, quickly informing Armin of the shifting situation.

_Just... Great._

"Don't move, Arlert."

There Reiner himself stood, the last of his disposable blades keeping level with Armin's palpitating jugular whilst his eyes pierced him like glass shards. His blond hair had transitioned from being a neat, close buzz-cut into a series of long ragged tufts throughout the months; his choice in clothing attire being rather dirty and simple. It showed the trials of the teen's throes in the great wilderness beyond Rose's formerly protective borders.

Armin inclined his head and eye-balled the trainee-turned-traitor, trying very hard to match the expression on Reiner's face with an unpleasant scowl of his own. At the second, Armin couldn't find the words nor ability to either budge or speak, watching as Reiner moved in slightly closer to the younger boy so his blades could be better positioned for a fatal cut. It was a ghostly parallel of his own posture with the very stiff girl in his perverted embrace.

Reiner certainly wasn't alone, as the flaxen-haired strategist dully suspected: He quickly deduced the odd noise of a steel cable being rolled back into place; Reiner's cohort trying to put away the item that had stopped their run. Following up the unseen action was the sound of a strangled and hollow gasp of air escaping a new corpse; Bertholdt mercifully killing the writhing steed who could never walk again. From the corner of his eye, Armin could see the taller figure creep into his peripherals and level his own blood-stained weapon near his heart; the blade pressing against his wounded side under his arm. He felt the steel's cold kiss on his ribs despite the thin, dirty shirt blocking it, the tallest teen remaining carefully out of Armin's sight in large part.

"So," Reiner began in dead-flat monotone, indicative of his lack of patience. "-You gonna let go of Annie or what?"

"You two are... still... alive," Armin felt his good hand curl far more tightly around the knife handle, his arm choosing an obscene time to quake. "I presumed as much."

"Yeah, we are alive, I guess. If you wanna call this method of survival living then sure," Reiner went on with a mild shrug. He was strangely casual despite the threatening poise he stood in, and the cacophony of destruction emanating from a few streets over: Hanji's battalion going to battle against the Ape no less. "-Although, I'm not gonna lie; this way of existing is kinda not a viable way of doing so. Its been hard on all three of us."

_Either he means the Beast Titan or Ymir. Can't tell which. I wonder where she is...?_

Armin looked over his shoulder and finally took in the sight of Bertholdt approaching Annie, his blade-tip migrating from the boy's heaving chest to the already frayed ropes tying her hands together. The scout glowered at him and warningly placed the knife-tip closer to Annie's trembling skin, pressing against her jugular. He asked flatly, "Well, aren't you going after Eren or helping the 17-meter hairball from Hell? Why'd you bother coming after me anyway?"

Reiner smirked, although his gold eyes remained carefully neutral. "Oh, our General's plenty strong enough for everyone as it is. Eren and Annie are coming along with us no matter how you see it, so picking up Annie now and _then _going after Eren would prove more prudent."

_So beat up the weakling boy guarding their companion and then tag-team against Eren and the Scouts? Yeah, I guess that does make more sense._

"Hmm..." Reiner looked at the knife-tip still resting on Annie's thumping pulse-line, his eyes narrowing. His lip quirked a bit when he indicated, "-You know doing that will only induce a transformation, right? It'll kill ya it you do that."

"Yeah," the boy forced his arm to stop shaking. "-But my intent isn't to kill Annie here, or hurt her for that matter. If anything, I want to keep her safe."

The two male shifters gave each other a silent glance in shared confusion of Armin's mildly threatening if not bothersome posture. Reiner rolled his shoulders at Bertholdt and cocked his head to one side, the other boy only returning the gesture to betray his own puzzlement.

"Soooo what's the big idea then? If you know it's a waste of time, then aren't you gonna let her go or what? I won't have to kill ya if you do that." The muscular blond raised a thin eye-brow, his tree-trunk arm lowering if by an inch.

Annie meanwhile managed to pull up enough bravery to turn her head, her glacial gaze unreadable. She blinked, her platinum-blond hair tickling Armin's nose as she moved.

Armin had his turn to smirk, taking the small blade from the prisoner's neck and suspending it where Reiner and Bertholdt can see it more clearly. He still kept his arm on Annie's shoulder though, twirling the dagger around a full one-eighty and blithely replying, "Oh, this? It was simply meant for show... to waste your time, you know. That's all to it. Thanks for playing along, guys."

"...What the fu-?"

That's when Mikasa chose to barrel out of nowhere and thrust her flesh-hungry blades at Bertholdt, her aim high and accurate and unfathomably fast. Despite this, her target countered with the lightning quickness of an adrenaline-hyped rattlesnake; both weapons clanging and shivering with the combined force of the strikes. The two broke off and leapt away for the moment, Mikasa's roar carrying her frustration at not having killed Bertholdt to begin with. With Annie so close by, he couldn't bother with shifting; so it gave the oriental girl an invisible edge so long as Mikasa kept her battle close to Armin.

Just as predicted, thankfully enough.

Reiner meanwhile snarled at the ruse and lunged at Armin, the boy clumsily falling backward with Annie and rolling out of the initial blow. The act looked almost entirely by accident seeing how Armin was sputtering nonsense and jumped off of the now infuriated Annie in a hurry. The Armored Titan shifter merely turned and angled his blade down so he could stab the soldier as he released the girl, but Melandus just then appeared behind the heavy teen with his own weapons aimed for the boy's head. Not unlike Mikasa and Bertholdt, their weapons clashed and sparked, Melandus throwing his full one-hundred and ninety pounds of weight into the blow. One of the disposable weapons snapped and broke at the tip; but it was the whole length of a human pinky.

"Dammit Armin!" Reiner back-pedaled away from the furiously swiping Garrison man lunging at him. "You don't seem to fucking-" Another swing deflected. "-understand what's-" Reiner ducked his head at the vicious cuffs leveled at his neck. "-at stake here!"

Armin rose back up and spread out his arms, his cerulean eye a myriad of emotion. "No, I don't know, Reiner! How could I if you never said a thing! Believe it or not though, I'd still like to _try to understand _if you just tell me-!"

Melandus shoved Reiner and head-butted him; the younger man gritting his teeth and shaking it off with ease. The blond used his great muscular mass to keep himself leveraged and evenly spaced in his footing; his size and weight much greater than the skinny Garrison Captain. Reiner then pushed back with all of his two-hundred something or other pounds with a fury, throwing Melandus aside and attempting to get in a decisive slash to finish the skuffle. Such an attack never connected however; for the older man was crafty and uncannily quick; probably lucky for all anyone knew. He managed to dodge and counter the death-strike with a below-the-belt punch towards the shifter's crotch.

Which actually _did _hit by the way.

That certainly did slow him down, but Reiner had not quite drop as expected. If anything, the Armored Titan shifter merely retaliated with an even swifter, bilious crescent cut that nearly left Melandus' head to roll. The attack may not have caught him per se, but it _did _rip a new hole into the Captain's shirt. Unfortunately, the singing sword had sliced his maneuvering gear's straps as well, limiting Melandus' future use of his equipment. Now the poor man was grounded, even if he wanted to escape.

"SHIT!"

Melandus tried to leap away, but Reiner pressed home his assault, not allowing a second of reprieve. The skinnier man was now retreating in a backwards motion, his warmer hazel eyes swimming in frustration at the unexpected precision of his adversary. The Garrison level of expertise would not be enough to support Melandus in this skirmish against a seemingly wiser foe, Reiner having likely refined his already over-powered attributes in the time he's spent in exile. The Captain's life was damn near forfeit the second his straps fell apart.

Armin shook his head at the dilemma and tried to figure on an alternative, but his muggy brain was losing more and more of its former clarity. His uninjured hand went to his scalp next, his breath growing shallower with each and every exhausted idea flickering by. He glanced at the intensive brawl Mikasa was holding with Bertholdt close by, only to see that the two were cutting corners on their match with cheap strikes and almost-reckless if blinding swings. Bertholdt looked especially desperate to get away from the relentless girl, but Mikasa was fiercely adhering to Armin's plan to keep the Colossal Titan shifter within the vicinity.

_O-okay, Arlert. Think: What was the next phase again...?_

Armin tossed an angsty look over at the unmoving Annie, who observed the battles going on helplessly in forced silence. Her expression was dull and heavy-lidded again; trademark of her overall negative reception to a naturally dismal situation. Likely, she was feeling at a loss or something of the sort; clearly distressed and upset in her own unorthodox way. However, Armin's scant observation of her opened a new avenue of opportunity in mind; he knew Mikasa and the others will question his sanity later, but the whole plan revolved around his next intent.

After all, he swore to make due on his promises; even if it meant breaking others.

He suddenly approached her and suspended the knife, his heart rate as jacked up as a humming bird's and shrew's combined. The girl's light cobalt eyes shifted over to him and widened briefly, but then settled a split-second later for glaring at him with every ounce of her contempt. Undaunted by her visible disgust of his more recent actions, he grabbed her wrists again and pulled them to himself; trying to convey something to her mutely at first. Her resistance was expected, trying to pull from his touch with a violent yank, but Armin held her hands firmly.

"...Annie," The shuddering boy uttered breathlessly. "I trust you. Please remember that."

That's when he surprised even himself with his next gesture; sawing right through the ropes holding Annie's hands together with swift but ginger care. His sweat-filmed head ducked and his eye was focused acutely on his task, trying very hard to keep his motions steady. His stupid fractured arm had complicated quite a few things for him this night, but he wasn't about to let that stop him now.

Once freed, Annie was already shrugging off the rest of her bindings with a fervent rush, her surprised expression reasonable. She undid the bindings around her legs and stared at Armin like he sprouted a second head, shocked by his bold decision to release her; he kept the surprises coming when he handed her the ring he stole straight from her finger earlier.

"Arlert," her voice was a harsh sound; not at all like it was earlier in the HQ basement. "What's the meaning of this?"

"I trust you. Do you trust me?"

"What-?"

Annie's mind was once again lost of logic; her crystaline eyes forsaking their older ire for something more bright and uncertain. Still, the boy grabbed Annie's hand yet again and shoved the tiny metal band into her weakened grasp, his stare as intense as ever.

"Annie, I told you I trusted you; and I still do despite everything. Even when I took this ring from you," the hand holding hers trembled as if on Que. "-I wanted you to know that I will make my ends and promises right. I also need to tell you something else, right here and right now actually."

"This isn't the-" She began in clipped uncertainty.

"I know! Just hear me out, okay?" He beseeched. "I know you don't particularly feel for my bull-shit right now, but I have to say this. _Now_. I wouldn't be wasting you're time with it if I didn't think it wasn't important."

Annie looked very much like she wanted to run away right now since she was free, but Armin's grip and pleading disposition kept her pinned there; either out of shock or something else he couldn't tell.

He startled with a heavy sigh, "From the very beginning of your awakening from your crystal prison, something became universal; changing how the flow of this battle would go even now. I dunno what it is, but there is no running away from it; whether from Titans or something else. Today, I'm asking you to _fight _the flow you went with, Annie."

"I-I don't think I'm following you," she tried in a pitiful squeak, playing stupid again.

The boy frowned at her and hissed, "You know _exactly _what I mean, Leonhardt." He never thought he had to use her last name at any point in his life, but he had to emphasize the importance of this moment, considering that they were on a timed clock. Armin knew he was moving too fast, but it had to be said: He spoke with a wheezing haste edging his words, needing to say his peace before more shit goes up in flames. "-You _know_ it too; if you want to win and go home, you have to fight. If you don't fight, you won't win. Understand?"

"And if I fight and lose?"

A non-committal shrug, and then, "You simply die."

"You fucking idiot-!" She took her hand back from his own and punched him in the shoulder, prompting for the lad to fall onto his bottom again. He gripped his injured arm and sucked in air rapidly through clenched teeth.

"First of all, that was for lying to my face," she kicked him on his unhindered side. "-And that was for your stupid commentary just now. You seem to act like I _don't _know what the Hell is going on here! Who do you take me for anyway, Arlert?"

"...I take you," he sat up again, his words slow and venomous. "-For a fucking coward who doesn't seem to want to go home."

_Come on Annie. I need to know your answer._

Armin knew Annie was seeing red at this point; he was pushing her on purpose after all.

"You insolent _bastard_-!" She flared her nostrils and raised her voice an octave, "You know _nothing _of what I have staked in this!"

"Then allow me to understand and stop running away," He shouted with unbridled vehemence. "If you want to _live _the way you want too Annie, then fight already! Otherwise, that fucking wad of giant hair will make your decision for you! Do you really want that?"

"No! I just want to get the FUCK outta this Hell-hole and live damn you!" She shot back.

"Then do it," he spat acidly. He moved towards her until his ruddy nose was almost touching hers. He snagged her hoodie's collar and fought the girl's attempted resistance with his own meager desperation, his body lacking the power to keep her idle for long. "You have the strength to fight back, contrary to how you see yourself. You are the only one who sees _yourself _as weak, but if that had been true, then you would've died already! The weak ones in this world _always_ die first and we've seen that over and over again throughout the years. You are _strong _Annie: Stronger than most would ever know; and much much stronger than even YOU seem to realize!"

Said warrior stopped her struggling, her wide eyes still slanted in anger and fear. Annie's hands suddenly rushed to the boy's tired wrist, clawing her nails into his fragile flesh, "You don't know; you don't know a thing! I had always ever helped along the chaos for my own benefit because I'm too _scared _to fight against what we're dealing with. They're too powerful Armin, and we shouldn't-"

"Shut up!" He jumped her and tightened his vice on her tattered hoodie, his eye now a storm of throbbing frustration.

_I'm so sorry about this, but you have to open your eyes. _

"SO what if they're so powerful?! I don't even know who _they _are," He bellowed. "All I know is that in order to survive since the day we were born, we were meant to fight the flow; meant to stare Death in the face and say, 'Not today'! You keep flipping that off every time you even breath, Leonhardt. It was that way since when you decided on going to Shiganshina so you can live. So keep doing it; even when you're scared to pissing yourself. You have the strength, and I have the will. You dragged me along for a reason right?"

"Let me go you wretched-"

"No," he interrupted. "Not until you see what you're capable of; not until you see that only _you _can change the way things are! Not Eren, not your damned General, just _you_. You brought me here in the first place right? So now you're stuck with me until you can actually decide to grow a pair of balls and fight!"

She growled in answer and kneed the shockingly heavy lad in the unmentionables as Melandus had done with Reiner; the only sure-fire way to get the brat off of her. Armin froze up and moaned, rolling off just enough for Annie to have her turn to wrestle the boy down and pin him onto the ground as he had done. Now straddling him, she glowered down with a vibrant array of tumultuous, unexplainable _rage _setting itself into her normally bored, disinterested facade.

"You wouldn't get it even if I told you," She hoarsely gasped. "-And even if I told you and you somehow _did _understand what we're going through, you would never be allowed to be with your pathetic friends- I mean, your _family _ever again... This world and its might is far greater than all of us, Arlert. That truth will follow you until death, as it always had with me since the day I was made to be a warrior. It sticks with you-" she planted her hands onto his throat entirely, squeezing slightly as if in a bluff. "-No matter where you go. It stays in your shadow, even as you look away. Its current is so strong there is no way to combat it. Mankind cannot hope to fight the inevitable, no matter who it is able to stand up to death itself."

"Then why," he panted. "-Are you still fighting it now? Are you saying... that you will die if told too by your Titan General for a cause you CLEARLY feel against?"

The girl bared her pearly whites at the insinuation, "No, of course not!" She lightened up her grip and hung her head further. "I'm just saying I'm not going to help you with Humanity and its fleeting attempt at victory. Its pointless."

"You're not doing that," he added with a strange tilt of his head, ceasing in his struggle to remove Annie's clammy hands from around his neck. "I never said for you to help the Scouts win, did I? I told you to help yourself."

"...No, but you said-"

Armin chuckled darkly, his last eye a dim glow. "I may be a servant of mankind, but I'd abandon the cause for Eren and Mikasa and my friends any day if they too left the walls."

Annie looked quite disbelieving, but she listened nonetheless.

Armin took advantage of her attention, saying rather fast, "Believe it or not, we entertained a similar idea back in the attack on Trost months prior, when we had a cannon shoved down our throats. I may have sworn to lay down my life to defend the importance of a strategic asset, but it was rightfully to keep Eren and Mikasa alive; who were also of more use than I. They believed in me and it made me feel like no one else's opinion ever mattered, so I felt that fighting for their beliefs and survival was worth sacrificing myself for. They chose to confide in me, and I delivered to them a chance to live and incidentally gave us the hope of fighting the flow of this world. I still feel like that was one of my greatest accomplishments to date, even now. I will die for them, _happily_ if it meant to end this pain; as I know they would do the same for me. It could very well be the same for you for all I know, if you tried to break away and be unafraid for once. Let me do this again now, for you as you said!"

Annie glanced away, her eyebrows dipping low while baring her teeth. Looking away was her coping mechanism for dealing with something intimate and emotional; she'd done it briefly in Stohess and during the gear inspection. She didn't want help, but she didn't want to go without either.

_She doesn't want anyone to see that she cares._

"-Look, I mean it like this; it was selfish of me to not tell you the full truth from the beginning of this altercation. Deceiving you was my greatest mistake..." He propped himself up on his elbows as much as Annie would allow, his body longing to quit. He went on with genuine sadness bleeding into his voice, "I want you to trust me... like you said you did back there at HQ to help you here, when things go wrong. Whatever you decide to do, fight with the Beast Titan or not, I'll see it through. I just want to better understand what you, Reiner, and Bertholdt felt was so worth breaking our trust for. I'm no longer afraid of whatever Hell awaits us, despite your words."

Annie shuffled her hips and drew herself away from the unmoving soldier beneath her. She lifted her upper lip and removed her hands from the boy's now pink throat, still looking at anything other than the young man in front of her pointedly.

"You helped me," he continued a terse moment later. "-Understand that being a little selfish is okay. I would never let whoever... _they _are win against Humanity if Eren and my friends willed for victory, don't get me wrong. However, a cause is a cause and the people who support such a thing have a choice to abandon it, even if our superiors say otherwise. A cause only exists if there is some who support it, which is by choice, right? So even if that current is too strong, you _have _to fight it, Annie. Especially if its for your own happiness as you keep saying; otherwise _your _own cause will destroy your chances of ever getting home."

She shook her head and placed a pale hand on the opposing arm, holding herself albeit in a limp fashion. She closed her eyes and muttered, "I _can't_, Arlert. I just can't... You're practically saying we have to defect from either side in order to make our own independent decisions. You still care about your friends and their belief in Humanity's revival obviously, and you won't leave them no matter what I'd say. I can't fight Zeke and his orders, even when I tell myself I want to go home. The wishes of a tool are the last thing anyone wants to hear, especially to someone who has given you purpose."

_A tool...? I get it now: She sees herself not as a human, but as a tool at times. Tools have no will or reason to fight what controls them; the flow of this cruel world and the Beast Titan are her manipulators in her case. Its probably the only reason she never reached out to others at all, killing so many senselessly in the expedition. Tools don't think or feel about their actions, but Annie is constantly fighting that fact without knowing it._

_She can't do this to herself anymore, shifter or not. She's human too dammit; like Eren, like the others, like anybody! Come on Annie; can't you see that?_

Armin flattened his palms against the cobble, bracing himself for another shock-wave of energy from the battle between The General and Hanji's likely half-decimated battalion. Once it passed, he shakily rose to his feet and calmly encouraged, "Yes, you're right about that, but you know what? That won't stop me, an extension of human-kind. I'll fight even when someone says not too. The Scouts did that all the time before you woke up."

"You have the same death wish Eren has," she scoffed. "I might as well be calling you the suicidal maniac."

"I would deserve that," Armin smiled. "...But still, now you know what I set you up for deliberately. What will it be Annie? Your home, or your cause? I'm prepared for whatever you chose."

_Please let my words have some merit. I want to let you know how much I want to help; I won't aid this 'General' of yours, but I know you can STILL be a good person. You'll have to start by opening up to change Annie. You're not a tool anymore._

The warrior shifted her weight and continued to hold her arm, irritation plain to see. Even with the thunderous echoes of the multiple battles ringing around them, she seemed for the first time this night oddly placid and hard-to-read as well. Armin half expected her to run away at this point, perhaps to assist the still-dueling Reiner and Bertholdt, but she remained indecisive as ever at first.

That's when she said with some finality, "I won't do it. Not like this."

The boy hung his head at this, truly believing Annie's reply authentic. His hope for her sank, and he wondered if he should leave right now while the gettin's good. Eren and the others needed his intellect right now, so he couldn't be standing here chatting away with a girl who won't even fight for herself seemingly. He wasted enough time explaining himself as it is, Mikasa now in danger of losing her quarry and so many more dying because of his idea to _talk _Annie into doing something completely out of her character.

Another failed attempt to connect with Annie's sense of mortality; trodden on like a pulverized garden of failing flowers.

_More of my bright ideas getting people murdered. I'm not much better than this Beast Titan at this rate._

_...Or Erwin, I guess. Either side is capable of just as much good as there is evil. I used these distractions and stressful situations to encourage fight in Annie, but it hasn't worked. Likely it'll never will with the Beast here to control her._

He turned and checked his gear, preparing to leave her for good while ignoring the din around them. He had to help Melandus who was in a losing match against Reiner, and it was a miracle he lasted this long against him. Annie or no, this battle had to end now.

Trying to keep some very dangerous emotions out of her speech, she suddenly whispered quickly and stubbornly, "I can't fight the flow alone. I'm not saying I won't fight at all, but I'll only do it if you're with me."

That made him pause, compelling him to look back her over his shoulder in pure shock. His mind grinded to a screeching halt, his heart stuttering and his hands forgetting what he was holding.

"Uh... Huh?"

How unintelligent was that reply? His face felt numb in some places as he slowly processed her statement. Meanwhile, Annie projected a complicated expression twisted with bitterness and poorly-placed humor and vulnerability. Her mouth was a lop-sided grimace exposing all of her front teeth at once, both of her arms folded against her breasts so tightly that she could've been strangling herself. Her golden head was cocked to one side, eyes locked onto something Armin can't quite see as her face flushed twenty shades of crimson. She looked cornered, but contented and flustered with whatever her enigmatic thoughts were.

"I said I'll help... just this once," she reiterated as if he were a simpleton. She then slipped on the metallic symbol of her resolution, the ring glittering orange-red in the wake of the fires around the area. Fighting the flow seemed to draw the energy out of her simply by thinking about it, but she was prepared to face it with the still-shocked traitor beside her.

"I'm still going to Shiganshina," she added with carefully constructed calm that did nothing to conceal her unusual facial expression. "No matter what, I'll find what's there, and you're coming along whether or not you'll like it. Maybe we'll get out of this alive if what's there proves to be worthwhile. If it doesn't, I'll kill you for betraying me and humiliating me in front of the hairy ass-hole over there. Deal?"

Silence was met at first, but then the boy grinned and ensured, "You're stuck with me, remember? That was of your own voluntary doing since day one."

Annie didn't say anything to that, but she did flick out the spur on her ring, her sullen eyes returning to normal in some part. The change of expression tried to conceal an undetermined emotion fluttering about her mind, but Annie had mastered herself before the boy can tell what it was. Her lips were a thin slash again, a twitch betraying her true relief at knowing Armin wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Fine with me," was her casual answer. "At least it gives me reason to kick Reiner's ass instead of yours."


	15. Thunder Fall

_Yes people this fic is a bit of a mess right now; I'm fixing it and revising each chapter day by day, one by one. Its a royal pain in the ass. You all should go back and reread the first few chapters in the meantime; they've been improved somewhat. For now, enjoy this long chapter; as its unique form the rest in a few ways besides being a real turning point. :D_

_**Arc 2: The Second Seige **_

_**Episode 15: Thunder Fall**_

* * *

~000~

Another titanic tremor shook the churning earth and broken cobble, bringing with it the untimely collaspe of yet more of the half-smoldering buildings within the Hellish epicenter of Trost.

The Scouts were now moving in largely disjointed formations, the Beast Titan's formidable attributes resistant to their pitiful attempts at distraction. His eyes had regenerated within the very minute he was blinded, his fury bubbling forth upon discovery of the missing Armin and Annie. He then proceeded to crush those who braved the chance to get near him, throwing whatever he could grab at the other out-lying platoons throughtout the district with unrivaled accuracy. No one person, near or far, was safe from his onslaught. No matter their expertise, none can get remotely close; and it was quickly surmised that only a fellow shifter can chance a battle with him and hopefully take him down. Perhaps, survive _at best _seeing how powerful the over-sized monster was.

With this in mind, Hanji and the other squads had to wait on some sort of ambiguous idea of a 'signal' before they can disengage, the Garrison having informed them that the unlikely Armin Arlert was indeed leading the efforts. They moved away from the gigantine brute, trying to get their bearings for a minute before diving back at the foe in repeated patterns, being cruelly cut down five by five every second. It was a mirror of the 57th expedition; a blood bath of a plan meant to lure out the other shifters hidden within the walls. Annie Leonhardt that day had mercilessly wiped out roughly half of the Scouts in less than hours almost single-handedly as it is. Sure, she may have had a band of Titans following her lead at first, but after the spotters were crushed she was able to do the rest purely on her own.

And too think, she had been the _weaker _of their enemies.

Now, the Beastly one himself stood as a impossible bulwark against all of their conjoined efforts. Everything was in shambles, their morality deteriorating and the struggle fruitless after a few minutes of merely going at him _alone_. It would've been easier to call in for Eren's much needed assistance at this point, but the boy was to lie in wait for the either the signal or the Armored Titan to appear supposedly. Weighing in the possible appearance of the Armored Titan and his taller cohort into the equation, it made sense; so it left the Scouts in Hanji's battalion on their own.

Another tattered corpse went flying at the center of their ranks, the man knowing he was dead the instant his cable had been snatched. The carmine rain from his broken form splattered amongst the survivors of his own squadron, still flying at the Titan without much regard for their lives. They tried to use their flares in the manner of the Garrison riflemen earlier, but the hairy horror had wisened up and protected his eyes as well as his nape. The grinning expression plastored onto his gray face was tell-tale of his enjoyment; apparently finding humor in the petty struggles of his tiny foes. It was obvious that this was just too easy for him to systematically pulverize the humans, leisurely falling back into his slouched posture every time the Scouts pulled away.

"We're losing too many at once! We need to retreat!" A soldier roared at the somewhat unphased Hanji; who had expected this unpleasant turnabout of events.

Hanji fired back in furious command, "Stand your ground, everyone! We wait for the signal as planned!"

Moblit approached Hanji and clasped her shoulder, his face hard-set and grim. He dipped his head and stated, "The _entire _brigade will be destroyed at this rate. We can't wait anymore; we don't even know what this signal _is_!"

She gave her normally unconditionally loyal subordinate a cross look, "You know we can't do that, Moblit. Its not our call. Even if scores of us are slaughtered, an advance must be made in the stead of their sacrifice. We stay even down to the last man or woman standing."

"As you command," he replied mechanically.

The Titan turned lazily around and eye-balled Hanji's team, who hadn't come at him so many times as the others before them: He must have quickly deduced that the brigade's leader was one of them because suddenly he was swiping at them with a feral abandon almost thoughtless in display. Even as Hanji moved with Moblit beside her, she observed that the behemoth continued on his hunt for both she and her assistant. The two Scouts parted in midair as the Beast attacked them yet again, his intelligence truly glaring as he locked onto them _solely_. Separating was their saving grace, meaning that the frustrating Titan would have to concentrate on one or the other despite his extended reach and dexterity.

As the pair strived to evade, the other Scouts came in to aid them; directing their attentions onto the Beast's joints in his legs and arms. As expected, the hairy giant protected himself by severing the gear lines and smashing human bodies like they were made of sopping-wet paper. At the very least, their costly attempt at saving Hanji and Moblit succeeded, seeing how the two escaped with their own lives intact somewhat. Upon landing on another adjacent tower a block away, the Commander was able to catch her breath and glance back yonder at the glorious spectacle, gritting her teeth at the sight of the _few _that remained.

_Dammit. Maybe Moblit was right; retreating would be a far smarter course to take at this point considering that this fight is going all to shit. Erwin and the others should be done by now; so where is that retreat signal?_

Another piece of the debris was suddenly flung in her general direction; marking the fact that the Ape had yet to forget about her. Hanji managed to dodge it well enough, but the flyaway pieces of clay and wood started to tear new holes into her clothes and skin. As more of the shrapnel came her way, Moblit charged towards the brute with every intent of drawing his attention. He swung _right _aroundin front of the ghastly hairball, screaming with all of Hell's fury behind him.

The usually calm (for her standards anyway) woman felt her gut sink like someone tied a weight to it. She pitched forward and almost fell from her perch as she cried, "Moblit! STOP RIGHT THERE! Do _not _engage!"

Now Hanji was used to the idea of the risk of death during her dedicated years in the scouts; she'd seen many good people flicker in and out of her life with almost no passing distinction after so long. However, no sane nor mortal person can truly accept the idea of such a fate befalling one's comrades; especially since Moblit was the only survivor left from her faction. The others passed away less than weeks before, and the devastation had been a macbre reminder of their mortality. The wounds were still fresh in her mind, and losing such a good soldier like Moblit would be a little more than just a waste. His impending death would simply be meaningless in the grand scheme of things; an evil that could be avoided.

_He's trying to keep the Beast Titan from targeting me directly, but that will only work for at best a minute. Probably less... if at all actually._

A decent leader gave their life for their subordinates, but Hanji knew her own life was not meant for such a sacrifice today. Sometimes such was a judgement call in terms of one man or woman being more valuable than the other, and she knew this was the case with herself. Moblit knew this as well, but it never stopped him from charging in to help her when she was in turmoil throughout the years. He put his neck out for her both in the field and off, as well as in her experiments so many times that she couldn't begin to count them all. She was truly grateful for the valor, despite never saying it much. Both knew one or the other will eventually get themselves in irrevocable trouble sooner or later, considering their dangerous occupation.

However, call her flawed or desperate, perhaps simply unwilling to come to terms with the idea, but she wasn't about to let Moblit give his life for her own. Not today anyway.

She hopped back into the fray, watching in mute terror from afar as the lucky Moblit managed to _just _get out the way of an oncoming hand swatting at him. His years as her wary underling watching her back to assure she didn't get eaten paid off, but that was all that could keep him alive at this point. He avoided fighting with the creature at the very least, seeing how all he had to do was distract it as the other scouts dove in yet again to attack him. The jointed efforts however yeilded the same fruitless results as before; with flattened and disemembered corpses flung all over the place and the survivors scuttling back in disarray. It was just as Moblit pulled largely out of the battle did things go horribly wrong.

One of the men who got within ten meters distance from the Titan's nape was snagged, as usual it seemed, by the wire and spun into the network of other cables surrounding him: effectively tangling the whole lot. The act had ensnared Moblit's as well sadly, just as the hook released its vice from the anchor point and was being reeled in. The clamp caught on the newly-formed black mass, the Beast Titan grabbing it as a whole and pulling it together into a more confused mess. The whole thing was now just a wad of metal; shaped into a perfect ball by the strangely articulate shifter who smiled devilishly. The currently surviving soldiers couldn't get away unless they went to unhook their gear, rendering it useless in the long-run.

Hanji rushed in, her heart a relentless war drum filling her hot ears with its over-bearing resonance. "MOBLIT!" She leapt off another structure and hollered, "CUT YOUR WI-"

The gargantuan menace flung the jungle of black and wriggling soldiers over his puny head, his teeth bared in gleeful if not murderous intent. The humans screamed as they soared across the district, a storm of vermillion guttering down from the flapping yet still alive bodies dangling from the speeding mess. If Moblit screamed, Hanji could never hope to make it out from the rest of the intermingled wails drowning out her rampant thoughts. It was akin to hearing the writhing souls of Hell's deepest pits beckoning forth, helpless and lost and obviously damned.

The commander froze in place just shy of the shifter an almost literal Titan's length away, her eyes still locked onto where the metallic mass descended like a falling meteorite onto the other side of the town. Its quaking crash over-powered the screams, and the deadened quiet that followed seemed to stretch all around Trost in an unbreakable vice.

Moblit was gone, and she knew it too. Just like the rest of her team and the people even before them. Just like _all _the others in the years she's been a Titan slayer; already phasing into the distant remembrance of her life. Her most loyal underling, whose intuition has _always_ saved her scrawny ass was now caught within the detritus of the other squashed men and woman and their gear.

Gone, undistinguishable from any other corpse, just like that.

The Beast Titan let out a soft scoffing noise from his hairy throat, taking his long arms and lazily stretching them out as if to cool down from some sort of excercise routine. _**"Now that was amusing,"**_ he said a second later, calm as could be just as he turned to face the unmoving scientist close by. _**"Humans in this territory these days are indeed interesting, putting up such a fuss they way they do."**_

Hanji fell onto her bruised shins, scraping her knees against the chipped edges of the broken shingles while precious breath left her body overall. How the hell did this even happen? She's was right fucking there for frick's sake!

On that note, how could Levi ever tolerate so many constant losses without being beaten down in spirit as she felt now? Having to stomach watching her previous squad as well as his own must have been akin to what she was feeling. Maybe he was just as battered in spirit as she was; cruelly numb to the heavy losses incurred no matter _who _death stole into its open embrace. Losing his team and her own, _twice_, all within a single year was something they had in common these days, grimly enough. Sure, she was supposed to be used to this shit, getting up to carry on what her subordinates have done while waiting for this signal, but Moblit's loss was soul crushing; even a little.

_'We stay even down to the last man or woman standing.'_

She was only _vaguely_ aware of the incoming threat now coming to do her in as he had the rest of her battalion, swaggering over with deliberate calculation in each step. The great Ape cracked his knuckles and sighed wistfully, as if the whole effort had been a great waste of his precious time. He swiveled his neck as well, popping it in place while rubbing the nape as if shaking off his fatigue.

_**Thud.**_

The gigantic hairball loomed ever closer, intented on finishing off all of the remaining Scouts cowering about not too far from Hanji as well. They had come to render some back-up to the superior's team per Erwin's request, but were too little too late to the cause. At the second, they were unwilling to budge after having watched how brutally the unknown shifter had cut down their brothers and sisters. They stood in place with true and untainted fear holding them there, its twisted grip spiking their blood with ice and poisen.

_**Thud.**_

"Commander! MOVE IT!" Yet another man tried to get the unresponsive Hanji's attention, his voice ragged and loud but remained unheard.

The second team struggled with what to do at this point, but they knew their orders; stop the Beast Titan at all costs until the next phase of the unknown plan began. 'Winging it' was also an alternative since the Survey core were familiar with the unknown factor, but that was against _normal _Titans; not their even larger and smarter counterparts. Nonetheless, they went on to confront the approaching behemoth even when some were scared shit-less.

This was their job for crying out loud.

_**Thud.**_

Another grin later, he was there, blocking the scientist's line of view from where she'd seen the ball of metal and flesh vanish. He was mostly eye-balling the frightened scouts now charging his way, but he may as well finish off the willowly woman sitting right where he can see her; as was his intent earlier. If she was indeed the current commander than the ranks of the foolish humans should scatter with her demise, possibly.

Hanji herself got to her feet, leveling the spiteful shifter master a calm expression that hid her overall anger at losing her last squad member. She usually didn't freeze up like that; it had been a minor laspe in judgement due to Moblit being a special case. For her, it has been years since she's done that on the battle-field, freezing up like an alert newborn fawn. She'd be equally as devasted if she were to lose Levi himself in that manner, and the same can be said for her former commander sir cheek-bones- Or, Smith rather. Mike, Nanaba, and her newer squad were amongst the many more were deaths caused by _this _hairy fuck-wad standing right there, gloatingly grinning at his more recent kills.

It was time to make him pay the price for all the blood lost as far as she was concerned. Perhaps if she didn't slice him up too badly, she can still play around with his _human _corpse later on back in a lab somewhere. After all, revenge first, play later.

_We stay, even down to the last man or woman standing._

She gargled and inhaled, working up a particularly nasty collection of phlegm and saliva saved only for her new date standing several meters from her. The sound caught the Titan's eye, but he never expected such a _disgusting _and blatant regard for his very presence suddenly being hurled at his muscular chest. Hanji had lobbed him a good one, even going as far as to pick the blood from her now shimmering teeth while glowering up at him.

"Alright big guy!" She finished that and clapped her hands, drawing her blades in the process. The corner of her sight watched his elongated, if skinny, limbs warily in case he reached up without warning. She knew better than to lower her guard around him like she does with a normal Titan; not that she actually did even when faced with such simpler foes. She was still around for a reason.

She heard the clatter of hissing steel rushing up behind her as well, finally noticing the new hands willing to throw their lives away under her command. Reassured, she then challenged, "I can't put ya on a lab table, so I'll hafta lay you out right here: If you wanna dance with me, then let's go motherfucker! COME ON!"

_**BOOM.**_

A wash of green-gold light sparked into being, dying the firey haze of Trost a whole other color for a fleeting second. A shocking amount of energy rippled across the air as well, blowing out some of the windows within the immediate proximity.

The ripple of invisible force lifted the commander and her soldiers up off of their feet completely. She recovered well enough, landing on her side messily but better off than the other squaking scouts grumbling nearby. Now ignoring the brute standing almost within arm's reach of her, Hanji glanced up at the same time the Beast did, his interest just as piqued as her own. He withdrew from her while hunching his immense shoulders, his smile faltering in favor of a more placid and reflective expression.

_...What the hell was that...? Could that have been Jaeger? He's not supposed to appear yet!_

A vast column of hissing steam arose from the area not too far from the docks next, indicating where a new shifter has appeared but also informing Hanji that it was indeed _not _the aforementioned boy in question. Eren was stationed elsewhere with Levi's squad, trying to circum-navigate the Trost area so to locate the Armored Titan shifter and his buddy. Right now, the rolling vapor screen concealed the individual in all of their entirety, leaving it up to debate as to who it was.

That's when they all heard the crazed stomping of a adrenaline-fueled charge next, the persistant cover of mist continuing to hide the oncoming interloper until the very last second:

A _dreadfully _familiar giantess pinned everyone in place by mere shock alone; moving into the fray with an articulate prowess demonstrating her brutal resolve. A towering figure of 14-meters, an indomitable wall of lean, largely skin-less muscle, glistening platinum-blond hair and gem-like eyes that glowed more than the hungry flames devouring the entire town: It all gave her the formidable bearings of a vengeful war goddess gone rogue; a marvel that the people knew they couldn't chance to fight after past experience.

Erupting out of the smoldering curtain of super-heated air and whirling vapor, the Female Titan thrust out her slender arm while hardening it. She vaulted over the buildings at a speed that finished crushing many of the compromised structures, her teeth bared and a great snarl ripping across her angular face; charging into battle very much in Eren Jaeger-like fashion. With blunt, blood-thirsty feral abandon at her side, the scouts were suddenly screaming something along the lines of "RUN!" upon seeing her, knowing the battle was lost if _she _decided to join the skirmish alongside the Beast Titan. Orders be damned.

_WHAT THE DEVIL-?! ...Dammit Armin! I thought you said she __**couldn't **__interfere?!_

The Beast turned to face whoever it was that came to join their altercation, his expression hard to discern as the she-Titan fast approached with no intention to slow down. He bared his teeth and barely comprehended who the newcomer was just as she barreled at him with cruel callous:

Ultimately striking _him_ hard across the cheek, her crystalized fist careening into his petite, under-sized head with enough power to shear away skin and bone alike. His neck cracked and snapped, his great body twisting about on the ball of his heels while reeling from the skull-smashing blow. He spun around and landed against a bell tower nearby, leaning against the structure for support.

The entire Scouting regiment within Trost stood awe-struck; believing that they were in-fact seeing a freak statistical impossiblity. The unexpected strike had been incredulous and shocking, blatant and rebellious, powerful and painful enough to stagger her larger adversary, even with a four-meter difference in height. This was _impossible_; after all of the shit this wench had put them through too. What in blazes did she hit _him_ for anyway?

Annie Leonhardt drew herself back up and shook off the dripping rivulets of vermillion from her sinewy digits, her expression now as unmoving as a rock. Her tousled hair did nothing to conceal her guarded, sapphire eyes; her mouth slightly parted to emit a tiny plume of steam from her likely boiling belly. She shuffled her thin shoulders and bowed her posture, raising her clenched fists at the formerly-presumed associate of her same cause.

She was challenging him.

"What the actual fuck?!" One of the men shouted. "Why is SHE here?"

Hanji stared on with a full wired charge surging through her willowly body, a _thrill _unlike any other compelling her to jump giddily while screaming madly. "Arlert you FUCKING genius!" She bellowed. "You fantastic, wonderful, amazing little fuck-head! I could kiss you for this!"

_I get it now! He told us earlier that Leonhardt was involved, but I'd never imagine that he would get her to fight with us! Especially after our last expedition went all to Hell thanks to that very same shifter... _

_Arlert, seriously you're amazing! So THIS was your plan after all._

The 17-meter shifter didn't move immediately, even after his injury had healed up. Perhaps he was just shocked by her attack, or he was merely trying to understand why she would do something so strange and audacious as punch him in the face. It certainly redirected his attention from the shocked scouts; that was for sure. Eventually, he did glance up at her, but his once stony expression displayed a terrible, seething wrath boiling behind his once calm facade. It was so terrible that even Death himself would go run screaming into the night.

_**"ANNIE."**_

The name uttered was thrown out like a curse, a warning or threat concealed _thinly_ behind the name itself. He pushed himself back to his feet, his tiny eyes a terrible window to the mounting rage building within him.

_**"You have officially killed your father," **_the taller foe growled.

As for the warrior girl in question, the once calm mask of belligerent rebellion wilted for something more in favor of panic the next second later. She backed a step and lowered her arms as if in realization of what she was doing.

The Beast took advantage of the weakness and stepped towards the girl with a cruel curl of gray elephantine-lips. He was going to phyche her out, and then charge Hanji quickly deduced. _**"Treacherous, ungrateful, insolent brat," **_He snorted, squaring his shoulders and revealing _all _of his horrible front teeth. _**"You will pay for this transgression, Leonhardt."**_

Annie plastored back on her poker face in large part, but she was clearly uncomfortable with this new development. She held up her hands yet again in answer, even if the icy eyes bespoke of her fear in large volumes. Still she stood her ground, even with a tentative backwards step taken with every one of his own. She was willing to fight, afraid or not presumably _for_ the people she had once targeted. Although, Hanji knew better; Annie wasn't there to help them probably, and she was no match for the Beast Titan and his wicked ability. She was only standing her ground as a bulwark for something else greater in store; the commander mutely hoping that Armin Arlert had another plan tucked away besides throwing Annie at their core problem.

Otherwise, it would mean _all _of their imminent deaths should the Female Titan fail.

* * *

~000~

Reiner stood over the now beaten Melandus, the Garrison soldier now lying on his back flickering in and out of pain-drugged sobriety.

The former cadet advanced on the older man, who struggled to cope with a new bloody blow to the abdoman that crossed over the slash that severed some of his ODM straps earlier. Melandus suspended the last of his remaining blades in pitiful defense, the other shivering hand going to staunch the freely-flowing wound on his skinny chest. Just as Reiner went to finish the job so he could go help Bertholdt, the unmistakable sound of a Titan transformation distracted him from following up. The noise and sudden flare of green and gold coloring the town caused for the burly blond to freeze, compelling him to look around for who it was that shifted.

His searching for the large interloper lead to new observation: Much to Reiner's chagrin, he noted that Annie was indeed gone alongside that calculating brat Arlert. He tried to locate them, wandering why the hell Annie and her captor were no longer down here with them. His stomach knotted up at the thought, and his anger began to simmer once again at what the scout could have done with their fellow compatriot.

_What the hell-? Don't tell me that Armin actually managed to carry Annie off in the state he's in...? And who the fuck transformed just now?_

Nearby, he noticed Bertholdt who was stepping cautiously away from the vicious (albeit injured) Mikasa, glaring him down with all of her seering, blood-thirsty malice. The Colossal Titan shifter was sporting a missing ear by now, whilst Mikasa was favoring one leg over the other; her left leg was likely sprained or a muscle got pulled. Despite this, the sound of a shifter's transition into their larger form snagged the pair's attention, leaving both Mikasa and Bertholdt temporarily mollified and shocked in place. Even though the two of them haven't completely removed their eyes from the other, they still searched for the new shifter and now the missing Annie; apparently coming down to Reiner's similar thoughts. Mikasa was suddenly much more worried about Annie and Armin being gone than her foe standing just a few feet from her, open to any of her next swings.

Suddenly, they all heard the mad crashing of titanic foot-falls, detecting the rumbling tremble of the shivering earth buckling underneath adrenaline-fueled drive. It was a clear indicator that _somebody _has joined the fight against the Beast Titan himself, and it was probably Eren they all figured. The crashing of a toppling building followed up seconds later as if to confirm the boy's identity; Eren's penchant for destruction tell-tale of his style when in a fight. A silence shadowed the noise next, and the bellows of many Scouts in the regiment making an outcry of shock was heard.

Reiner couldn't help but smirk, knowing that if Eren did indeed decide to engage Zeke one-on-one, it would consequentially end with the lesser trained shifter being defeated in less than a minute. Even the Armored shifter himself couldn't defeat Zeke so easily; he had given it all he got already just to get the Ape-ish one to help them get Annie earlier on.

_-Still, it also means we can get out of here quicker if Eren's going at 'im full force; fighting Zeke is an idiotic thing to do alone, Jaeger. You're as good as caught._

Reiner snorted and glanced around again, ignoring the now baffled Melandus who didn't even try to move due to his grievous wounds. Mikasa and Bertholdt were very much the same meters away, forgetting their little brawl in favor of searching for the absent girl and her captor Arlert right alongside her. The oriental female still quickly dismissed the concern in favor of rushing at Bertholdt again in even greater ferocity; intented on killing the former friend in cold blood.

The Armored Titan shifter flared his nostrils at this, but he knew Bertholdt could take care of himself for another second; especially since Annie's well-being gave the taller shifter a good reason to stay on his toes. Armin's absense however wasn't a good sign, so he couldn't help but bare his teeth at what such a development could beget. A creeping unease rushed through his fevered veins the longer the unusual quiet stretched, straining to look for the two smaller blonds who were just here with them.

_**"ANNIE."**_

Reiner felt his golden eyes dilate in horror, recognizing the bitter anger evident in the General's growling timbre some distance away. Worse yet, that name uttered by their superior confused as well as scared the teen, his swords lowering in abject surprise.

_Oh no. Please tell me I heard that wrong._

_**"...You have officially killed your father," **_He heard Zeke snarl, chilling the boy's blood to absolute bitter zero.

Reiner felt Bertholdt's eyes land on him just as he deflected Mikasa again, his rising panic plain to see. Said girl also ceased in her maddening strikes and paused, she and Melandus darting looks between the shifters and themselves in briefly shared shock.

_**"Treacherous, ungrateful, insolent brat," **_continued the wrathful Ape, his voice the loudest sound in all of Trost as of that moment._** "You will pay for this transgression, Leonhardt."**_

By now, everyone in the alley-way had very much the same expressions on their faces; a slack-jawed surprise at this unexpected turnabout in loyalty. Even Mikasa, who had been so hell-bent on murdering Bertholdt couldn't move; her arms lowering the blades as her opponet broke out in trademark fearful sweat. Melandus meanwhile was trying to find Armin, looking very much like he wanted to question how Annie got loose. As for Reiner, he generally forgot overall that he had a job to finish, his mouth going bone dry in horrid comprehension.

_...WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS ANNIE DOING?! WHY THE HELL IS SHE-?_

Panic blurred sense from purpose; leaving the teen gawking in place. Annie was supposed to be smart, crafty, and resilient; but Reiner was all of those things and more. He knew that she wouldn't just turn on a dime and change her whole purpose after the ordeal they have been through together; add to that their struggle to get her free from those fucking Scouts to boot. They had a united goal of reaching their homeland for frick's sake, so there just _had _to be something else that could have compelled her to-

That's when the answer itself hit him; literally.

Armin Arlert had come around and threw his little bit of slight frame and weight into the larger boy; hurling himself at the unguarded Reiner with just enough force to throw him off his footing. The distinguishable sensation of steel burying itself into his spine was also felt; but it was shallow and not at all an immediate threat to the former trainee's health. Still, the charge was both painful and bad enough for _blinding _anger to burn into place where pain should have been; removing Reiner's sense of mercy utterly.

Now, as far as he was concerned, Armin Arlert will _pay _for this little act of deceit no matter their former friendship. He had messed with Annie and ultimately their future plans, and now he was going to get it.

Landing on his front and dropping his swords, Reiner tasted the cobble on his tongue as Armin's shin dug in-between his shoulder blades, right into his spinal column in a way meant to disable. The smaller boy's weapons were partially dug into his flesh as well, trying his damnest to keep the over-sized shifter pinned flat. Reiner would've transformed under normal circumstances; but he had some some choice words for Armin and he was mindful of Bertholdt being so close by.

"_**YOU-!**_" Reiner puffed angrily, trying to get his breath back. He emphasized next, "_**You **__conniving son of a bitch_."

Armin bit back at him with just as much scornful contempt, "Better that than being Humanity's most well-known _traitor _with identity issues."

Melandus sat up and warned, "Arlert! Get out of-"

The rest of the sentence went largely unheard; Reiner disregarding the stinging bite of the younger boy's blades in his body as he bucked Armin off in a crazed attempt to be rid of him. The lad rolled off but lost his swords in the process; the tips of the blades still embedded into the shifter's back. Before he could recover, Reiner was suddenly caging him beneath his greater mass and drawing a matching sword against the boy's bobbing throat.

"You _sick _ass-hole," Reiner roared. "What the ever loving FUCKING hell were you thinking getting Annie pulled into this shit?! Do you even _realize _what you just did?!"

A neutral look was his answer, and it _greatly _pissed him off even more than he already was. He lifted his thin lips entirely off his incisors and punched the ground next to Armin's head, his mind racing along speeds too fast for individual thoughts to be distinguished. His heart hammered along in his breast so powerfully that it was making breathing nearly impossible as well, the iron tips of the boy's broken blades no longer felt in his flesh.

"WELL?!" He screamed after a prolonged minute of brittle silence. "SAY SOMETHING DAMN YOU!"

"If you want to kill me, then be done with it then," Armin stated with dead calm in his reply.

Reiner blinked at the mystifying words in angry surprise, wondering why the hell someone who used to be glaringly cowardly became so unpredictable and bold much to his credit. Armin wasn't even _remotely _terrified of being slain at all, and it was something that made Reiner's gut grow cold at the idea of following up. Sure, the shifter normally wouldn't consider slaying those that used to be his comrades, but what Armin did was a serious blow to their cause. He will _seriously _despise himself for the regretable act of killing the younger boy later, but it has to be done. Especially if Annie seemed to favor following Armin's lead instead of their own.

_Well, somebody has to do it. All of mankind is gonna go anyway, so what's one more life?_

_...Even if he used to be my friend, he isn't as important as home, Bertholdt or Annie for that matter. Think of it like that. You already told yourself that you were gonna end him for what he did, so I should be doing it._

Reiner felt the tension lock up in his joints as if in protest of the thought, but he needed to follow up on this decision. His chest gave another mighty heave in an forced attempt to breathe, his mind splitting between the idea of killing or not. He held the sword just shy of Armin's slightly moving chest, the tip dangling a finger's length away in hungry anticipation.

_...No. Don't start this shit again; just do it already damn you. Don't show any compassion for the enemy; you didn't do it for Marco, and you damn sure can't show any for this little pain in our ass. Just fucking do it, Reiner. What's the big deal here?_

_...Just __**fucking **__do it._

Armin pulled his head a bit and glowered at Reiner in blatant diffiance of the obvious threat, his purpled lips pulling from his own bloody teeth. He then said, "What did I just say a minute ago? Finish the damn job already if you're the warrior you claim yourself to be! I already brain-washed Annie, and now you're considering letting me live for it? Come on Reiner, you did it to Marco; why not me too?"

The name mentioned was like a curse, but it also bent Reiner's fragile mind to the point where he felt brave enough to make due on his threat. Marco's demise was a grievous stain on his moral past, and it was sometimes more livid than the attack on Shiganshina. That day five years ago felt almost like a bad and disjointed nightmare at times, allowing Reiner to temporarily forget it during his better days as a trainee in the Cadet corps, as a _soldier _for humanity. However, Armin's casual reminder of the boy's death struck a chord within Reiner, compelling him to try to end the smaller boy's life as if to erase the majority of his sins. He didn't want to remember what he regretted as it is, but he also couldn't let Armin live on the account that he _will _tell his scouting friends about really happened here, in Trost a few months back about what really happened to dear old Marco.

How ironic, to be fighting here in the same place, thinking about this old memory now, underneath almost similar circumstances. How cruel was this world really?

_To hell with this. I'm ending this now._

"-Arlert!"

"-Armin!"

The next events happened in less than a span of five seconds:

Melandus and Mikasa screamed; the ladder suddenly disengaging Bertholdt so to rescue the doomed companion still lying flat on his back. Bertholdt meanwhile followed after Mikasa so to stop her from killing Reiner, his lanky body absolutely coated in stinking sweat; trying his hardest to throw himself at the girl. Reiner tried to drive his sword into Armin's tiny chest with the genuine intent to kill him, even with Mikasa being right behind him but still too far away to do anything about it. Suddenly, a whipping flash of mercury-silver flickered off to the side of Reiner's peripherals next, keeping his blow from connecting with Armin.

"HANDS OFF, FUCKER!"

Jean.

The long-faced boy from their same graduating class severed Reiner's hand with deliberate precision; shoving him off as well as saving Armin in the process. He swung again this time to lop off his head, but Reiner was still the better and wiser fighter; he caught the younger man's hand and bent Jean's wrist utterly, breaking it and stopping the attack. Jean gritted his teeth and roared in both pain and frustration, but he kept pushing on with all of his comparable strength right behind him. The two grappled briefly even with Reiner's missing appendage, his oiled artifice keeping him just a step ahead of Jean; but it also helped that Jean was now one-handed himself. Mikasa went to join him so to take out Reiner while he was without a weapon and distracted at that, but she was completely oblivious to the fact that Bertholdt was right behind her, blade held high.

"MIKASA!" Armin bellowed.

She couldn't react on time; but she needn't bother luckily: Levi and Eren was suddenly there in as little as a single blink of the eye; the Captain's swords eating their way carnivorously into Bertholdt's twisting torso, the rest of his special operations team right behind him. Eren had stayed close to Levi's side, but he didn't deliver a single blow to the panicked Bertholdt; he shadowed the now safe Mikasa instead with his eye locked on a new target. He dashed over to where Reiner was dueling with Jean, his glittering, boiling pools of molten emerald both feral and terrible: His expression the very pristine picture of immient death.

Reiner knew he was dead meat the instant he even chanced a look into _those _eyes.

_FUCK!_

Levi meanwhile could have finished cutting Bertholdt into ribbons, but a split-second's hesitation saw to him never following through into the cleave. The normally enigmatic Captain must have felt something akin to regret about slaying a former comrade, kid, human or whatever he saw him as; but it was a weakness that the taller shifter took advantage of. Bertholdt somehow managed to whip-lash around like a cornered animal, a primal snarl contorting his usually gentle features. He dislodged the blades with a complicated movement that betrayed his expertise, his own matching sword coming to impale Levi all thanks to his extended height and reach.

Connie and Sasha saved Levi in-turn however; yanking him out of the way and rolling off to the side while huffing with effort. Thankfully Bertholdt was out-maneuvered by Hitch and Marlo blind-sighting him next, attacking the tall boy at the same time Levi did: the shifter only just landed on his feet for as little as a heart-beat before Marlo used his own height to his advantage, tackling Bertholdt and gagging the lad in the process. Hitch wrapped herself around his middle and pulled out his arms, taking them behind Bertholdt and compelling the taller teen to drop his weapons. She moved adeptly fast; wrapping them up and helping Marlo to pin the shifter to the cobble and keep on wrapping him up. Connie and Sasha joined in not a second too soon; for Bertholdt was starting to get his bearings and fight back against the surprise ambush.

Soon, the boy was completely immobilized, and unable to transform without risking Reiner's health in the process. As for the aforementioned Armored Titan shifter himself, he saw what became of Bertholdt and struggled to cope with the attacking Eren, Jean _and _Mikasa he now had to deal with alone. Before long however, he too was downed by the enraged trio and subdued in similar fashion, unable to disengage. The rest of Levi's team quickly pinned him down and then put him under wraps; literally speaking.

_NO. No no no no!_

He struggled against his new bonds, Jean seating himself somewhat comfortably (if not arrogantly) on his back while avoiding the blades Armin's earlier attack left embedded into him. Reiner knew that the only sure-fire way to escape now was to transform, but it would be risky to both Bertholdt and Eren now standing just a few yards away. He had an objective painted clear in is mind, but his body refused to follow through; he couldn't afford the attempt to get free. He was loathe to say it, but he and Bertholdt had been bested; likely by that _pathetic _runt Arlert and his plans and not so much Levi's team as far as he can guess.

They were caught, and there will be no escape.

"Armin!"

Eren was seen vaulting over to where the injured blond was, his acidic killer's look melting completely off of his face. It was a lucky stroke for Reiner in some way; seeing how if Eren stayed around the older shifter any longer his fury would've gotten the better of him and he would've been tempted to slay Reiner in cruel retribution for his earlier attempt on Armin's life. It was bad enough that burly blond now had a few painful reminders of the boy's fury crossing over his body from where the angry attacks have connected during their brief skirmish. Frankly, he didn't need any more agonizing wounds in his opinion.

Mikasa as well followed him in a clipped stride, her beautiful lips parted in an gasping attempt to regain her breath. Her limping did not go unnoticed by Eren; who quickly grabbed both she and Armin and seating them forcibly onto the ground, his teeth bared in white-hot frustration of his friends' recklessness. He clutched the two smaller bodies to himself and surveyed them, his anger firmly set in place.

"Dammit you two! What the hell are you trying to pull?" He reprimended in a very Carla Jaeger-like manner. He was agitated and rightfully concerned and relieved among many other things; but it was endearing in a way.

Armin merely smirked in answer and slumped forward, his body very much looking ready to give at this point. "I'm unhurt Eren; no worse than when you found me," he assured.

Eren's gaze went to Mikasa then, but the girl waved off the concern and said, "Pulled a muslce in my leg; I'll be fine."

"You almost died just now! You know that, right?"

The girl shrugged at him and said, with a touch of softness that she only used for Eren, "I'm not dead though, and we're all togther now. That matters more."

He didn't seem at all eased by the statement at first, but he gave up the topic. Another nod later, Eren was suddenly heaving a resigned sigh and babbling, "Seriously you guys; what the fuck are you trying to do here, give me a damned heart attack? 'Cause that's working relatively well."

"Yo."

Jean didn't move from his spot on Reiner's back-side, but he gesticulated at the three while interuppting their familial moment. He asked rather tartly, "Oy, Armin; what the hell do we do from here? I'm kinda confused about what's going on with Annie. I thought she was all for _their _side?" He pointed down at the shifter beneath him and jerked a lazy thumb over at the really sweaty Bertholdt shuffling his limbs nearby. "So what gives here? You said Annie wasn't going to be a problem anymore."

_That's what I want to know too, Arlert._

Reiner silently observed as Armin freed himself from Eren, wearing a deadpan expression that proved impossible to read. He replied cooly, "She isn't proving to be a problem now though, is she?"

"...Well, no, but-"

"Then I never lied about her interfering with the plan earlier either. She's helping us now; not hindering us," continued the smaller soldier in a low drawl.

Eren relinquished his hold on Mikasa and stepped towards his childhood friend, his scowl hard to miss. He inquired in a whiny, somewhat disbelieving tone, "I find it hard to believe that she's suddenly decided to assist us after all the bull-shit she put us through. There were so many that died as a result of!"

Jean nodded sagely and concurred with, "For once, I agree with Jaeger; Annie's a cold, selfish bitch with a killer's complex. Explain, Armin. I'd like to think that you somehow changed her views or something, but Annie's too damn smart to be persuaded into changing sides. She's only ever been out for herself after all."

The other members of Levi's team exchanged glances, Hitch and Marlo muttering most audibly about their past with Annie. Reiner kept his eyes dead-locked onto Armin however, still remembering what the boy betrayed when he had been pinned by the shifter only a moment before. The larger teen furrowed his thin eye-brows deeply, rolling his jaw around the gag in an urgent need to question the sickly soldier.

_He said she was brain-washed, but I seriously doubt that. So what the hell is going on here anyway...? It seems he pulled the veil over his own friends' eyes in order to get this far. _

"You're right, Jean," Armin casually stated. "She's still working for herself; and that never changed. I merely just gave her a little courage boost to help her decide what she wanted to do and how she could go about it is all."

The aforementioned team-mate cocked his head to one side and stared, his confusion shortening his fuse evidently. He bit in a sardonic manner, "Huh? What the ever loving fuck are you on about? I don't think I'm following you."

Reiner looked over his thick shoulder at Bertholdt, who could only helplessly shrug back at him.

"I'm saying," Armin pressed. "-Is that Annie finally has the resolve to see a job through without being so cowardly about it; but it involves her branching out from the Beast Titan's plans. She wants to go home and be out of our lives forever simply put, and she's been trying to do that since day one. She didn't kill so many of us just because she wanted too; she honestly believed that doing this was the only way. Still, in order to get what she wants, she has to fight the Ape and win: She's gambling on it, just like she did in Stohess that day."

Eren and Mikasa blinked in both shared displeasure but uneasy acceptance of this proclamation, their eyes flickering in-between each other and then back to their friend in light of this information. Levi wrinkled his nose and let out another "Tcch" at the statement, all the while Connie, Sasha, Marlo and Hitch seemed more willing to believe the boy's words. As for Reiner, he was now angrier than ever, his body's core heating at the incredulous audacity and selfishness on Annie's part. She attacked Zeke purely out of her own volition, with the utmost intent to get home _without _Reiner and Bertholdt; despite their attempt at _saving _her worthless ass. The girl wasn't assisting humanity per se, but she was no longer involved in the plans of their cause.

She was a rogue, just as the Armored shifter figured.

_That little act will be the end of you Annie. I knew you were going soft back then in training, wasting your time with Mina and saving the others's lives during Trost, putting yourself into unnecessary danger the way you did... but this stupid, ridiculous act of self-preservation-!_

He forced out a breath and tried to calm his jacked up nerves.

_...I hafta to say; I'm actually not all that surprised. Its totally like you to pull a fool stunt like this. I knew you weren't warrior material deep down, and you've only proven that today._

Reiner hung his head and felt his breathing grow difficult again; suddenly remembering the weapons stuck in his back now that his adrenaline high has worn off. His brain quickly checked the thought of performing a partial transformation seeing how it was something that could get him free, but Levi will be quick on the draw; killing him the instant the shock wore off. Worse yet, the people holding Bertholdt hostage could kill him, or threaten to do so in order to subdue Reiner. Even if the burly blond _did _somehow manage to get loose, Eren will be after him like stink on a corpse if he tried to run. His partial transformation will also leave him vulnerable after the initial surprise, and he wouldn't be able to transform for another minute after the desperate bid for freedom.

He was stuck; no matter what ideas he entertained.

_We're as good as boned as this rate. Unless Annie cared enough to get us loose, which is unlikely, we just can't get out of this. _

_Fuck you Armin. Seriously; FUCK you._

"Eren," the source of Reiner's frustrations suddenly spoke up, snapping the teen out of his sideways thoughts. He then hurriedly added, "I need you to go and help Annie trap the Beast Titan right now, before he gets the chance to kill her. Can you do that?"

Well that was out of the blue.

Eren sputtered like he just swallowed a whole lemon; and he apparently wasn't the only one seeing how Jean reacted in very much the very same way close by. Mikasa shook her head and stepped towards Armin, clearly afraid for his mental well-being. Most everyone else in the squad, with the expection of Levi, pretty much gawked at the strange request (more like order) Armin had thrown at the shifter. Bertholdt and Reiner could only look on, their dread and latent fear biting its way into their broken composure.

_What the hell is going here...?_

Eren broke the pregnant silence with, "Are you kidding me, Armin?! Annie is the god-forsaken enemy for Maria's sake! You're telling me to-"

"Please!" The legionnaire beseeched, much to everyone's surprise. "Annie's relying on someone to help her out; she's only doing something this obscenely dangerous because I told her someone's going to help cover her. She's tired and _afraid_, Eren; and she can't fight alone for much longer seeing how she hadn't had any rest in the last 24 hours. She's been doing this since before you guys showed up; since probably before this new attack on Trost yesterday afternoon. We have to act now before the Beast Titan overwhelms her!"

_...He said he wanted to keep Annie safe earlier, but throwing Eren into the fight like this isn't exactly the wisest thing to do. Still, why does he want to help one of us to begin with? He clearly knows about Marco; so why doesn't he leave her to die and return to his friends? Hell; why isn't he saying anything about Marco where nobody can stop him?_

Levi stepped forward and scowled at the boy, his narrow eyes a hellish amalgam of spite and distrust. He then growled, "This is sheer _ignorance _at this rate, Arlert. We can't trust that Leonhardt will abide by the rules this time when she's broken them before. Just look at these two-" He emphasized Reiner and Bertholdt's position as he waved at them. "She's betrayed us and even _them _in favor for herself. I'm starting to wonder if she's actually gotten into _your _head during your little time spent apart."

Mikasa shot the man a look that could've out-stared a basilisk, "Armin would never betray us! How can you say such a stupid-"

"Mikasa," Armin intervened before the girl's rant could carry her over to a physical confrontation with her own Captain. "Its okay, really. He has all the right to be wary of this sudden decision. Annie has done some horrible things to all of us, and that includes the previous operations team being slaughtered by her short-sighted brutality. I'll be the first to admit it; Annie can be cold to a fault, sometimes undeserving of whatever justice we could deliver to her, but I can promise you that she's not really who we think her to be."

_Yeah right. She gave us up for her stinking father; who actually FORCED her into this whole ordeal in the fist place. You got nothing to gain by trying to justify a murderer, Arlert._

_Not unless you've done what we did._

Eren clearly remembered the little incident in the 57th expedition, and it stung at his soul every single time without fail. His teeth flashed from underneath his chapped lips, closing his eyes in brief memory of the last team.

"Please," the boy continued, winded form all the talking so far. "-Annie's not a ruthless, cold-blooded murderer, contrary to what we've witnessed. She regrets everything she's ever done to us; even going through the trouble of saving Connie back in the previous attack on Trost, or Jean when he tried to get out of the way of that abnormal flying at him. She taught Eren how to fight, and she truly tried to avoid killing some us during our past interactions with her; can't name them all right now, but you get the point. She didn't _have _to do some of those things for us, but she did; considering that we were supposed to die in the expedition and in the first seige of Trost, it was too much to expect that out of her. It was a total waste of her effort to bother with the animals she was supposed to butcher, but _still _she did it."

Levi's complicated expression got even more warped, his furrowed glare contorting into something between a pained grimace and a reflective visage. Whatever queer thought he boiled down to, he kept it to himself at the moment. He must have remembered some important detail relevant to Annie's unpredictable demeanor, because then he was suddenly clicking his tongue at a snap decision he internally made as Armin went on.

"I know you guys don't like Annie, and you've been following my plans blindly up until now. You all want some clarity here; I understand that," the weight of his own words dragged the energy out of Armin, his fatigue forcibly slouching his figure. He kneaded his lips again and struggled to get his likely rapidly spinning thoughts together, clearly tired of trying to explain Annie's behavior to them.

He finally went on after another precious second, "Right now, Annie needs your help to get that Beast Titan subdued or she'll be in serious trouble. Please Eren, help her out this one last time! This is the last, but most important step, and then we can be done with this. Every minute I spend here talking to you guys is another risk-filled, compromising, costly moment for Annie; a time you could've spent stopping this inane fighting. Eren, I wouldn't be asking you to do something so ridiculous if there was a chance in Hell that she'd still pose as a threat to _us_. She's not changed in some way, but she's wiser. You have to believe me for this one!"

"Armin-"

"Please!"

The promise of the defeat of the Beast Titan seemed to be a good lure, but Eren was never in charge of his own actions. The boy merely snarled at the dilemma and darted a hopeful glance at his superior, his green eyes silently begging for the permission of the inevitable. Levi meanwhile watched the teens anxiously for a second before slumping forward and shaking his head at some unseen thought, seemingly tired of the whole ordeal.

That's when he said with a blank dullness, "If its just luring the giant hairy fucker into a trap, then I say go for it; we'll watch your ass from afar, Jaeger."

"W-what-?" Jean trailed off, at a loss for words at the strange consensus that the whole team seemed to share suddenly. "You're actually giving Eren free reign to do this? With no guarentee that Annie _and _his hairiness might go after Jaeger at the same time?"

Mikasa released some of her anger from earlier, turning to face Eren and bracing her body for the last phase of Armin's plan. The others remained where they were, being sure to guard their new prisoners jealously with Levi at their backs. Eren meanwhile swallowed a building lump in his throat and nodded, replying with an expected, "Yes sir!" in return.

"Wait, we're actually going through with this?" Jean tittered on.

"Yeah," Their normally bitter Captain answered. "We have to finish the plan one way or another; Erwin trusts the brat's judgement and fur-face won't stand a chance against Jaeger and Leonhardt at the same time. I say go nuts, but just be sure to mind the collateral damage in the long run; you've done fucked up Stohess last time as it is. That's an order."

"Sir!" Eren saluted yet again.

"And we're agreeing on this why?" Jean whined.

"Kirchstein; shut your face. You're annoying me," Levi warned.

Armin beamed at this development; but Reiner could already feel the cold hand of punishment waiting to be delivered once Zeke found out his only remaining two warriors failed at what they came here for. He was also baffled about Armin's long-term intention here; hidden from plain view from his own friends. He stared at the younger boy pointedly for a solid minute, hoping to get his attention and better understand what the supposedly 'loyal' soldier had in mind.

Just as Eren sailed away, preparing himself for the battle ahead, Armin finally felt the molten glare of the Armored shifter boring into him. He turned to look at Reiner, his single eye owlish and guarded.

_Now what the hell are you trying to do now Arlert?_

Reiner hoped that he could convey his question through eye-contact alone; and it apparently worked. Armin gave a strange tilt of the head, his cerulean gaze distant and forlorn and apologetic all at once. He gave Reiner a silent answer; one that could only be understood by like-minded people. Both boys held the other's attentions for a full minute before the answer dawned on the older teen; its brevity an unusual shock.

_Shit. He doesn't even intend on staying here with his friends after all! He's actually really trying to help Annie out; but why? I could've __**swore **__that they were both on bad terms with the other-?_

Reiner didn't have much time to finish reasoning out this estranged epiphany; for suddenly he heard the sign of the shifting face of battle joining the fray: Eren Jaeger's transformation into his imposing 15-meter form demanded the attention of everyone within the district; its tremulous entry dying the broken world around into a green-gold hue.

With a howling scream loud enough to wake even the dead, the Rogue Titan flew from the whipping columns of boiling vapor, throwing himself at the larger enemy with a tangible rage leading his fevered assault. The unified cry of all of Humanity's shared rage drowned the entire district with its gale-force fury, powerful and harrowing enough to chill even the most hot-blooded of men. The Beast Titan was preoccupied with Annie at the moment, but he eagerly turned and prepared himself for the oncoming foe; excited by the intervention of their long-awaited target. As powerful as Zeke is, even Reiner inheritantly knew that there was no chance of escape at this point; Zeke will not run until he got what he came for.

It was all, or nothing.


	16. The Will of the Lion-Hearted

_**OH MY GOD THIS CHAPTER IS A TITAN-SIZED PAIN.**_

_**Also, I'm not dead. Just had some emotional constipation to get over.**_

_What a pain in the wrinkly balls this thing was to write; I've spent so many stupid senseless days making it and so many more weeks trying to decide how it'd go. The dialogue, the pacing, the other shit in it, I just hope its not over-the-top with you guys. I made it like this just so you can enjoy it; and so I could finish this arc. I wanted to get to the other good shit I had planned ahead; the romance aspect is something I know you all came here for and you'll get just that after this. And hopefully, we'll have some good humor and shit too after all the heaviness this thing has hashed about. Time for a mood changer eventually right?_

_Seriously, on another note..._

_I can't imagine how many people Isayama pissed off with that recent string of deaths in the latest chapters, besides me of course. No spoilers, but some very important characters died in it... and I can't accept what happened to one of our most endearing characters in particular, even though I suspected death to happen to others. Just not so... Suddenly. Hell, if Levi died I wouldn't be surprised; its almost a long time coming. I'm sure a lot of you agree. That doesn't mean I hate him or anything, I like the guy, but if he died I'd totally be okay with it if he went out like a boss._

_Rants aside, I'm officially accepting my own fanfic as an... 'alternative' canon story. Call it a cop-out, but I don't care. __**Fuck **__all that bull-shittery we readers saw in the latest chapters. _

_FUCK IT._

_Let's see this story to its bitter-sweet end; not that its ending too soon luckily for all of you. I swear I think I still have more than a dozen or so chapters left; depending on how the story carries itself out. I've been making it up as I go!_

_**IMPORTANT NOTE: **__I made Zeke speak formally like that on purpose in the last chapters; but I think I'll change it eventually after what I saw in recent chapters. Zeke was meant to be a sarcastic enough ass-hole to just talk like that because he was getting kind of irritated; like in the __**'pray tell' **__part... among other reasons I figured was a good idea at the time. He was being a dick on purpose when Armin tested his patience in the earlier chapters. Besides, we fans didn't know enough about his character at the time to understand how he behaved yet, so you'll have to excuse this. Anyway, for this story to go on as it is, Zeke being not exactly like his canon counterpart should be accepted for the sake of this plot. There's too many unknowns about his behavior as it is right now. I'll try to change it to sound more like the main series in the future, but no promises. Meh. If you don't like it, then sue me._

_Sorry. That came out too rude. I'm just still PISSED about chapter 82. That's a topic I'm sure most fans rather not discuss._

_For the moment, read on my friends. Be sure to let me know what you think about this extra-extra long chapter as well as share your thoughts on the events in the main series! I love hearing about what you think._

_**Arc 2: The Second Seige **_

_**Episode 16: The Will of the Lion-Hearted**_

* * *

~000~

The district flashed with blinding color; lightning gold and vibrant lime flickering briefly into being before fading out with a tumultuous crash.

The confrontation between Annie and the Bestial one has been both brief and brutal, but the primordial howl of a crazed juggernaut managed to break up the conflict. The terrible maelstrom of noise and shattering buildings joined the chaotic war-cry, its rage a palpable force. It was within itself Hell hath its fury incarnate; putting Zeke on his toes and prompting Annie to stiffen from where she lie. The patter of heavy footfalls and a insidious growl informed Annie of who it was immediately; her relief and confusion a muddled quagmire that left her to wonder if the interloper was indeed a smart idea to toss into the desperate situation.

The great Ape had Annie pinned beneath him, his earlier intent to rip off the Female Titan's head so he could get at the human lying in its nape; but thankfully he released her and smirked instead. Deemed no longer a real treat, his interest was now firmly locked onto the charging boy-turned-Titan hurling himself at them with feral purpose. Stepping away from the weakened Annie, he swung his exaggerated arms and loosened his stance while cracking his neck. He braced for the full weight of Eren's wrath, his small eyes feral but calculated.

_Great idea Armin; just throw __**two **__crazy animals into the pit with me still trapped in it._

Annie realized belatedly that Zeke wasn't paying her any heed; considering that she's no longer important or vital to the mission. Eren, the priority target, was taking up most of the Beast's focus so she snatched at the opportunity: Still lying in a supine position, she kicked out one of her legs to knock the 17-meter off his footing. It was a stupid and desperate move, but he shouldn't have so easily looked the other way. Zeke however was a versatile and watchful foe with years of experience; so he managed to avoid the blow and use one of his own legs to stomp onto the offending limb while keeping his eyes on Eren. He shattered Annie's leg in the process, but Annie didn't care; she wanted to so win badly she put out even more resistance.

She kicked out the other leg just as Eren finally managed to converge onto their location; his wild eyes sharp and wary. Zeke held out his over-long arms and blocked one of Eren's punches with one hand while snagging the other in a lock. He was mindful to harden the other leg Annie struck out at in the meantime, the satisfactory snap of more broken bone meeting his ears. It assured him that she was out of the game for the moment until her Titan form regenerates, leaving Eren as his sole opponent.

_**"This fight was so boring at first," **_he growled at the younger shifter. "-_**But now, it's finally fun."**_

Eren's pupils dilated; the only outward sign of his next attack. He disengaged the towering fur-ball and back-pedaled; throwing out another predictable punch. Of course Zeke moved out of the way and deftly dodged more of the teen's follow-up strikes, getting his turn to back away while doing so. His gray lips curled more and more in an upward show of his enthusiasm with each strike, his massive body absorbing most of the shock from whatever flimsy attack Eren managed to land. He barely threw many punches himself, but he gauged Eren's level of expertise while keeping a trained eye on Leonhardt only a street away.

Trost trembled beneath the quaking reverberations of the two Titans squalling about, their battle looking more one-sided as each blow was exchanged. Eren came off as too easy to read, while Zeke played around with his foe just for the bloody Hell of it. It all seemed like a game to the older Titan, who reveled in the chaotic swirl of battle. Annie could only look on while willing for her injuries to heal quicker, knowing Eren wouldn't last more than half-a-minute against Zeke and his decades worth of expertise. She gritted her teeth and snarled, watching her legs mend far too fucking slowly for her liking.

_It won't be long before he comes stomping back over here to finish me off. With Eren... the coordinate here, he won't care about the rest of us; his goal is right in front of him. _

Annie sat up on her elbows and studied the battle from afar, observing as Eren was suddenly blocked again unsurprisingly. Thankfully his practice with Annie back in the Cadet Corps kept him from succumbing to the relentless counter-strikes leveled at his torso. Each blasting blow sent a rippling wave of bone-grinding force washing through the smaller Titan's body, quite possibly breaking all of Eren's ribs by now. Still, Eren fought on anyway, his anger making his wild attacks faster but less thought-out. Zeke retaliated by snagging another one of Eren's fists and circling the boy on the ball of his heel, forcing Eren to face the opposite way. His hairy vice then pinned Eren's limb flat against his back, throwing the boy onto the ground and planting a foot in the middle of his spine.

_**"Not GOOD ENOUGH!"**_

He ripped Eren's arm off with a roar, his other free hand balling into a fist and bringing it down onto the Titan's head with enough force to completely _flatten _it. The spray of blood didn't originate from the impact area strangely, but from the bottom of the skull instead; Annie couldn't see to be sure. Nonetheless, she was sick of watching this fruitless battle without being able to put forth her best efforts to gain some ground. She struggled to rise, baring her teeth with the effort of straining her lower body.

_Dammit Eren! I didn't betray my own fucking cause just to lose __**now.**_

Annie forced herself to her unsteady, unmended feet, trying to run haphazardly towards Zeke in an effort to keep him from claiming his prize. However, she stopped short of him as her still-shattered leg crumpled beneath her, bringing her entire body crashing back towards the earth. Now lying on her front, she could only fume at her apparent helplessness while she heard her former associate snicker at his win.

So much for Armin's last resort plan. Why can't she do _anything _right?

_**"Amusing," **_He droned. He gave his defeated foe an appraising eye, suddenly smirking more than expected. _**"I didn't expect this in the least, boy. Reiner said you couldn't harden your skin, but you've made him out a liar. Shielding your brain was useless, but smart no less."**_

The statement startled Annie, pulling her out of her internal downward spiral of again propping herself up, she settled her weight upon her forearms and attempted to peer past the barrier of broken buildings to see what Zeke was talking about. She kept trying to get a better view, rising more and more until she was on her knees. Zeke's over-sized form hovered over Eren's pulverized one though, so it was impossible to discern any details without getting a closer look. She pushed herself to rest on her calves next; which was a bad and painful idea that sent jagged bursts of fiery _hurt _into her artificial upper body. She proceeded to ignore this of course, finally able to somewhat glimpse the newfound anomaly shining up from its position on top of Jaeger's skull:

The surprise tactic reflected the hazy light of the fires crackling around them brightly enough, the individual strands of Eren's hair hardened into a crystalline shell. Zeke's fist had no effect on it shockingly enough, but the same cannot be said about the male shifter's lower jaws. The shock had passed right through the hardened casing and into Eren's teeth; broken molars and incisors alongside a shattered lower jaw had sprayed a layer of crimson around the Titan's head like a gory halo. Still, the surprise Annie felt at seeing something so unexpected had her mind spinning, wondering when Eren developed the hardening ability while she'd been catatonic.

_Did Armin know about this...?_

This initial surprise forced the older shifter to take pause, but his usually stony expression grew into a more entertained one. He grinned even more, his injured hand flexing and hissing at waist level. Before too long, the 17-meter began to rumble, his massive barrel-chest shaking with his laughter. _**"I've always loved a good surprise in a fight, but this!" **_His humored expression betrayed the good time he's had tonight, his pointed teeth jutting outward. He rose from his place atop Eren, using his good limb to dust himself off in a leisurely manner. _**"Reiner bored me when we first went head to head, but who would've thought the end result would reap me this? I suppose the judgment has been apt for this instance." **_He gave Eren's unmoving form a lazy once-over,_** "I'll give you a moment to heal so we could actually have some real fun; I want to get the most of this. I've got a job to do now, but you might as well enjoy what you got, eh?" **_

He turned to look at Annie just then, his expression unreadable. He inclined his head and heaved a mighty breath,_** "I believe an explanation is needed here, Leonhardt. It wasn't fair of me to threaten you the way I did right after we see each again. But you know me; always getting so riled up just a bit too easily... Seriously though, punching me in the face? You should know better than to infuriate me like that." **_Zeke gave a mild shrug more or less in distaste of her earlier act, tutting at her in mild shame.

He went on to say rather boredly, _**"Reiner fought me and... 'won' in a fair duel as a bid to coerce me into saving you, besides adding in the juicy detail regarding finding the coordinate to tempt me along. He's gone soft in my opinion, thinking about your well-being and all... you should be grateful for his show of concern. Its more than what I would've felt. He honestly believed you were being tortured." **_He folded his ape-arms and drew in a lazy breath, his tiny eyes glittering with some undetectable then sighed, _**"Anyway, I'm willing to let bygones be bygones since I'm in a good mood again. I've wasted a considerable amount of energy trying to get to you, and I'd rather not squander more. I promised Reiner I'd give you the benefit of a doubt, no matter how badly you screwed up. We could settle this whole debacle neatly if we work together, so let's try this again."**_

Annie felt the corner of her lip twitch; but the act had been an unconscious gesture indicative of her curbing anxiety. Trademark of her nervousness, her arms hung stiffly at her sides while her sinewy hands balled up; and as for her human body under the Titan's skin, she wanted to twist her ring again. Zeke was known for being as eccentric as he was cruel, but there was a possibility that he could be genuine. In a tight enough situation, he'd readily accept the help given to him and he'd return it in the long-run; he was their War-chief and his leadership meant that he should be open to any possibilities offered to him. This was probably the reason why he went looking for her despite Reiner, even if she was a failure as a warrior. He still saw _some _value in her, amongst other things.

_But still, Zeke's trying to reason with me, even after what I did...?_

The Titan continued, not at all worried about the attention he drew from the surviving Scouts; he even seemed to disregard that he had an open opportunity to take Eren from where he lie. _**"I don't tolerate treachery, and you know this. However, if you let go of whatever clouded bigotry you're clinging too now and help me get the coordinate home," **_He had to pause here, considering that speaking like this was a pain in his vocal cords. He pressed a corded hand to his throat and said after a minute,_** "-Ahem... excuse me. As I was saying, I'll not only withdraw my earlier threat, but allow you the chance to go home. We'll free those two idiots over there and the mission will be done. Humanity can rot in its pig-pen while we move on, coordinate in hand, a happy ending waiting for all of us. No need to hold grudges if there's an easy win in it for us, right Annie?"**_

The warrior girl narrowed her eyes at this; that sounded far too forgiving even for Zeke's standards. Still, his words held some truth in them considering the logic of their situation; Zeke had always been a reasonable man in some sense. He'd listened to Reiner and his incessant begging before all this, and he gave both he and Bertholdt a chance to make up for their failures recently as example of his more redeeming and compromising nature. With this in mind, helping Armin was no longer deemed necessary in getting her home, and she wouldn't have to worry about anyone else threatening her ever again. Well, except for Zeke himself she supposed, but that was something she usually braved if it meant she'd get what she wanted.

_It was why you killed Marco after all, and its why you're using Armin too. You only ever looked out for yourself._

The Female Titan's limbs were healed at this point, but Annie still refused to move. The one thought that seered through her mind just now wasn't in a voice she recognized immediately, but its words held true no less. She refused to help somebody for her own benefit before, and she told herself she'd do it again if need be; that was exactly what happened to Marco after all. Besides, Armin pulled a fast not too long ago; lying to her face and taking her ring and using her for _bait_! He'd played mind games with her the whole ride here, and he put her in enough dangerous situations that it was a small wonder why she didn't kill him for his bull-shit sooner.

But still, at the end of the day, he gave her ring back too, confiding in her as he did so with an easy smile while holding the good intention of teaching her freedom of choice. She'd never would've known about her own independent ability to act the way she did if it hadn't been for him. He exercised patience with her, and he proved he'd never, _ever, __**ever **_try to kill her off on purpose. He was under-handed, suspicious, and distrusting, sure, but not cruel or _absolute _in his methods like Zeke was. He genuinely wanted Annie to live; and that stood true ever since that day in Stohess. Zeke however, unlike the forgiving Armin, would kill her without a second thought if it ever came down to it.

_Armin said he'd see this through with me, and he never came off as someone who'd break this swear. If I help Eren, he'd stay true to his word, right?_

The she-titan rose to her fullest height finally, briefly tossing Eren a cautious glance to gauge how far along in the healing process he was; largely done now since she saw him moving. If she took the chance now, she'd easily take him down with Zeke beside her, but was it worth the betrayal to Armin and his sworn word to stay with her until Shiganshina? He was a runt with a death wish waiting to happen, and that was just emotional garbage she didn't need to be carrying around in the case he _did _mysteriously kick the bucket.

Annie clenched her jaw and stared down at the ruined cobble below, rolling over the possible outcomes of this decision. She could help Zeke bring Eren _and _Armin along for the ride; she was sure Armin would've loved the familiar company. However, Armin could be deemed a liability by Zeke, who'll kill him and say making Eren show them where the basement is is more fruitful. This was a more likely scenario now that she thought about it.

As for Armin whose a soldier to the core, he'd _never _allow for Eren to be sacrificed to their cause no matter the cost. Without a doubt, Armin would die for his friend in order to keep him out of Zeke's hands, believing it to be for the greater good. Worse yet, such dogged loyalty made Annie question the worth of Armin's word in staying with her; wondering if he was truly okay with following her to the ill-fated district some hopeless miles away. He just may ask her to _kill _him if he was just going to be used as a tool to meet Zeke's ends, if not find some way to do it himself.

Annie had to give it to him; Armin was quite ballsy; more so than any other man or woman in this god-forsaken world.

_**"Decide now!" **_Zeke bellowed almost angrily, Eren by now deciding to get up close by.

_"...Only you can change the way things are! Not Eren, not your damned General, just you... Why are you still fighting it now? Are you saying that you would die if told too by your Titan General for a cause you CLEARLY feel against? ...Whatever you decide to do, fight with the Beast Titan or not, I'll see it through. Otherwise, your own cause will destroy your chances of ever getting home."_

Eren by now was on his feet, his wild hair no longer a uniform barrier. He tossed his now healed head and turned to glare down the Beast Titan with undisguised loathing, moving over to Annie without completely removing his green eyes from the taller shifter. The Female Titan hardly noticed Eren's approach at first, her attention still firmly set on observing the more fascinating street below her. She'd only detect him there once he was a mere several meters away, taking up position in front of her in a _protective _manner.

_What is he doing-?_

Zeke grinned close by, shaking his head and chortling more inwardly than he did the last time. _**"Interesting," **_he rumbled. _**"You're willing to help the girl who's made fools of you all? You don't even know if she'll turn on you again."**_

Eren meanwhile scowled far more deeply at the obscured challenge, standing defensively in front of the surprised Female Titan. His lip-less snarl parted to emit a cloud of sizzling vapor while his tongue curled unpleasantly. He continued to stand proudly poised but with a stance that vaguely resembled Annie's technique no less, his tousled brunette hair a wild curtain framing and accentuating his skull-like face. His heavy hairless brows fell against his molten pools; his eyes a seething quagmire of emerald fire and mercury vengeance. He bunched and loosened his shoulders as well, the nictitating membranes briefly sliding over the spite-filled orbs.

_**"Well Annie," **_Zeke opened his arms in an inviting gesture. _**"What'll be your answer? Are you going to waste your strength helping these undesirables, or will you help me instead? Are you willing to put a chance to go home on the line or what? This is your only straight shot to go home, Leonhardt. This shouldn't be so difficult."**_

Eren's pointed ear twitched at the very tip, turning his head oh-so slightly to glimpse Annie over his shoulder. It seemed he understood the situation in large part; his hearing hadn't been quite damaged enough when Zeke made the bargain a moment ago. Still, the Rogue shifter observed Annie with a careful, guided look meant to determine if she'll change sides again. As for the girl in question, she clenched her lower jaw and eye-balled Zeke, wondering how sincere his word is. She knew better though; Armin's word against his were both debatable at best considering their personalities. Zeke could be baiting her, but he could actually sincerely mean his words considering his nature. Zeke always knew what's best, right?

_No. That's... not right._

Annie let her stare wander between the slightly irate War-chief and Eren, noting the harsh but otherwise blank expression on the latter's features. The former class-mate watched the girl in return, his fists still held in mute defiance of what could possibly be a losing battle. If she decided to leave now, Eren wouldn't stand a chance, but he'll go down fighting no less with the Scouts right behind him. However, if Annie fought alongside the boy instead, the battle will be decisive and the flow _will _change forever: It was the kind of change the Scouts, Humanity, and most everyone else has all hoped for for _years_, Annie herself included. She'd been too afraid to fight for it since it seemed at one point that the resistance was just useless, and she'd been too selfish to actually stake her life for such a cause.

But now, she could felt that she could fight it; and she was at that second the final deciding factor in this siege. It wasn't Eren's power, nor Zeke's command, or that hard-headed Reiner's impulse that was the most important detail at this moment. It went even further; Annie's next and last decision was what'll change their little world for better or worse for all she knew. Helping Eren meant a chance to get rid of the Titans for good, possibly. But helping Zeke... that was rather self-explanatory within itself. Although, that whole thought process was made on a single guess she'd just concocted; it was a bet she's never been sure she could make considering her actions less than a few months ago. She'd happily threw everything away then just to fight on Zeke's side at the time; but now, the end results were not going to be so clear-cut. There was no telling what fighting the flow would do for her now: It was an unknown wager with drastically different end scenarios; not unlike that moment in Stohess perhaps.

_A normal life can be less than a few generations away Leonhardt, or maybe even just a few years. You could still return home either way, but only one way can assure that there's no Titans left in it anymore with no regrets attached. An easy life is just within reach._

_That said, maybe it's a wager that's worth taking._

The answer had never been simple to find, and it's that reason that allowed her to kill so many without feeling the remorse of it all once; telling herself that she wanted some semblance of normality in her hectic life no matter what. Her whole purpose in this stupid cause had practically been a gamble from the very start considering the circumstances. But now, a Titan-less future with her father in her homeland could be plausible; actually, tangibly, _fucking _possible given further thought. Risks were something she normally avoided, but this instance could very well be what she'd been looking for.

_Sometimes, fighting the flow is the only way to win. If you win, you survive. If you lose, you'll die; and that's how its always been._

_And I intend to live a life with no more regrets._

So, in answer to Zeke's query, she stepped astride Eren and held up her fists in the mirrored stance, feeling the boy's fiery gaze linger on her. She bared her teeth as well, relaying her answer to her now former General in the plainest way she could. Silently, she prayed that this was the right decision, feeling her stomach churn with unseen dread.

The Ape meanwhile could only lower his arms and glower at the defector in silent fury, his teeth glimmering underneath his elephantine lips. Whatever 'good mood' he'd been in was now long gone, his stare now cursory and horrible. His obscenely small eyes glittered like writhing embers within the shadows of his skull, his lengthy arms lowered and his shoulders raised like hackles.

_**"So be it," **_He murmured.

* * *

~000~

Levi was never so easily taken off his guard, especially with all the chaotic bull-shit he's seen throughout his many years as a Scout, but this day has determinedly continued to prove him wrong.

Armin gaped at Annie in mingled joy and surprise, he and most every one else beside him having observed the girl's final decision. Mikasa held the captive Bertholdt by the collar of his shirt next to the aforementioned boy, both teens sharing the same look of abject shock. Connie, Sasha, Jean plus their prisoner Reiner were much of the same story while Hitch and Marlo were garbling nonsense like turkeys. Levi however stoically looked on and folded his arms at the scene, silently impressed with the female shifter's stand. It almost seemed like Annie _seriously _contemplated on going along with the almost obvious offer, but her blatant refusal has certainly turned heads. Pretty much every surviving person in the district has had a front-row seat to her 'Fuck you and fuck your deal' show.

_Not bad for a cowardly bitch._

The team captain felt his eyes tick over to the young Arlert, mentally noting to give the boy some commendation in the nearest future. His ability to convince Annie to help them has certainly changed the way this battle with the Titans was going to be waged from henceforth. Catching Zeke was literally the only thing left on their to-do list that day and it seemed Jaeger and the traitor-bitch just might pull this off.

Nearby, the small boy sighed wetly, as if he was still choking on his own pain. Arlert was a bruised, dirty, patch work mess to be honest, and Levi would've figured the weakest member of his team to finally collapse by now. It was a wonder that the teen was still on his feet at all considering the dark rings circling his eye, his left arm held awkwardly as if broken and the bloody smear decorating his side in a vibrant splash. He was dripping in sweat, his posture somewhat slouched forward as if he was going to fall on his face or something. Mikasa at least had an eye arrested on her friend at all times, being sure to watch for such an occurrence.

After a minute, Armin exhaled a heavy air of relief, "I'm just glad this gamble paid off. I'd thought something would've gone wrong by now."

He was more or less talking to himself, mumbling at that, but Jean blinked rapidly as if shaken out of his stupor and stared at him like he was crazy. The taller boy pursed his mouth and asked, "Wait, what gamble?"

A smile was his first answer while a cold possibility was his next, "I wouldn't have been surprised if Annie took his deal at this point, considering how many times I've lied to her the last several hours. If she went with him now I'd expect it." He shrugged just then, "I think I stretched my luck with her helping us a bit too far by now, but it seems to be working in our favor."

The horse-faced boy gawked at Armin, obviously trying to picture him pissing Annie off on purpose as well as lying to her face. Worse yet, the fact that the wheaty-haired boy let an unstable variable like Annie have free reign of this situation afterwards of course angered and terrified Jean. Levi sympathized with that to be honest; less than a short while ago he'd been utterly distrustful of Arlert's plan himself, but hearing this made the Captain bristle with hidden fury.

"Armin," Jean puffed. "Seriously; what the actual Hell is _wrong _with you?! You mean you _manipulated _her and she's _conscious _of it and you _still _let her do what the Hell she wants?! What the fuck man; she could've turned around and squished your stupid ass at that point!"

Mikasa finally removed her onyx stare from the on-suing battle streets away, giving Armin a concerned, almost motherly look that betrayed her unease. She didn't say anything, but her expression was plain enough to read; it vaguely reminded Levi of the time Petra gave him the same look when he had to get stitches months ago. It was a critical expression, both of worry and something else he couldn't identify.

_Shit. Don't even go there._

The captain removed his eyes from the idiots that made up his squad and watched the fight instead; seeing Eren get tossed aside like a dog's chew toy. Annie however has hardened her fists into high-flying clubs, bringing down every inch of her damnable strength she could summon while the Jaeger boy hurried to his feet. Zeke however was making fighting her look far too easy; something Levi _wished_ had been the case during the 57th expedition. Annie was one tough son of a bitch on her own, but with all the effectiveness this was doing her, she might as well be fighting with a pillow. Luckily for her though, her technique was meant to topple larger foes, meaning her overall fighting ability wasn't all lost.

Still, Levi watched as Annie buckled beneath the weight of her sheer exhaustion, her lack of energy dragging the girl to her knees. Unbeknownst to him, she'd gone on for so _long _without sleep, transforming so many consecutive times that day, and spent her barely-mustered strength on keeping she and Armin alive within the last twenty-four hours. This fatigue has taken its toll and its impacting her fighting performance at that. The Captain noted the slow and cumbersome maneuvering she was doing, trying to figure out why she wasn't fighting at her fullest. He still remembered fighting her himself some time ago and he knew the girl's full scope of her capabilities didn't include this slowness.

_Something's wrong with her._

Annie meanwhile backed away enough from the Ape to get some reprieve for the moment, but he was merely taking his time with the battle; toying with her while hitting her just enough times to demonstrate his disgust with her apparent seceding. Some of the blows were hard whilst others more punishing; the rest of the attacks were meant to tear Annie from her Titan's nape: meaning Zeke still wanted her alive in most part. She didn't have to be in one piece for all he cared, but she still had to be breathing when he caught her.

Which wasn't long now.

Levi observed as Annie once again got to her feet and maneuvered about in a half-circle away from Zeke, trying to get some room. Eren returned with another charge and a flying fist made of rock, the Beastly one turning to block and parry the strike. Annie found her chance then; suddenly rushing him while he was distracted with Eren. She kicked out at Zeke's tiny head in a bid to remove it, but the clever foe hardened it in a flash. Annie sadly broke her foot again as a result, stumbling backward off her footing and into a building not so far from where Levi's team stood; give or take a few blocks.

_Huh. So he has that ability too._

Levi caught from the corner of his eye Armin's sudden jerk, his posture stiffer than before. This fight has unveiled to the little genius their enemy's suspected ability; giving them an edge in the long run. The little shit probably had been looking to unveil the rest of the Beast Titan's abilities ever since the hairy wad first appeared; likely noting what he observed and locking it away for future reference.

As for Annie, she leaned heavily against the building that had been spared of the indiscriminate flames, her lack of energy keeping her in place. Zeke saw this lapse as an advantage and tossed Eren at her next, his smile almost manic with his thrill. Annie held up her hands and ducked as best as she could, but the motion was wasted when Eren's full body still collided with her smaller one and the momentum sent both shifters toppling into the street behind them. Zeke let out a thunderous boom of a laugh and sneered at the two, his eyes flashing something animistic and dangerous.

_**"Now that's a perfect pitch!" **_He blithely said, his comment causing for some eyebrows to rise.

Suddenly, he was bum-rushing them with his teeth bared in a scornful snarl, rushing forward in a tackle not too dissimilar from the Armored Titan's. Annie fought her way out of her messy tangle with Eren, but didn't move much past that. She inherently knew that she couldn't dodge the oncoming attack even if she wanted to; waiting for the bestial one to sink his terrible fangs or claws into her. She merely propped herself further up against the somewhat wholesome structure behind her, moving away from Eren as if to draw the foe's attentions. Eren struggled to rise as well, still very much pissed about their current situation and unlike Annie is willing to put up every inch of resistance that he could summon. He scrabbled to his feet and stood in front of Annie again, his eyes burning no less hotter than Hell-fire.

Eren did something unbelievably intelligent just then; hardening his leg clumsily but fast enough to try and stop Zeke's charge. As the larger enemy vaulted over to them, Eren swept out his leg and attempted to trip the speeding shifter; knowing his momentum can be played against. Hardening was still a new technique to Eren, so his every attempt at it so far has been more of an impulse (and a lucky one at that) instead of something he thought out, but it succeeded in slowing the 17-meter. Zeke tried to deflect the attack but even he miscalculated the speed of it, his arm rising up to stop Eren's oncoming blow from connecting. Just as he fumbled for a brief split-second, Annie was suddenly lunging forward and attempted to swat the beast's head clean off with a hardened wrist; both Jaeger and the girl utilizing the other's teamwork.

Sadly, Zeke's other free hand stopped Annie's strike, getting over Eren's assault by jumping over him and falling towards the girl the rest of the way; latching his lanky hands around her throat. Eren was trodden on, smashed underneath Zeke's stupendous weight and sent crashing to the ground with no hope of getting up with the giant fucker standing on him. The house behind Annie collapsed beneath the sheer weight of it all, the girl's lithe but still immense body shaking the area around Levi's team less than a Titan's length away. Levi commanded his team to _"MOVE" _just in time; avoiding the after-shock and making it to another building some short ways away.

Annie's titan form didn't require breath; not in the same way her human body did, but she instinctively tried to draw in some air despite the rage-fueled grip strangling her. Annie's hardened fingertips clawed at Zeke's wrists, but his skin was thick; thick enough to suffice as leathery armor on its own. His woolly hair and extra layers of epidermis in this form allowed him this advantage in his previous skirmish with Hanji and the Scouts before; the blades having been rendered no more useful than toothpicks. Annie still bitterly fought against the vice clenching around her throat nonetheless, Zeke the more powerful of the two. He was going to rip off her head and tear the girl out; and then he'll take out the inexperienced Eren on his own.

Levi frowned at this, weighing in the fact that this battle was going down-hill quicker than a runaway wagon with greased wheels if it was left utterly to Jaeger and Leonhardt. At this rate, he was starting to figure if he should intervene; his skill-set plus Ackerman's should be just enough (if not more so) to _rip _the human out of the Beast's nape while he was distracted with the two pinned beneath him. He turned to Mikasa in light of this, mutely deciding to take control of the situation.

"Ackerman, hand the sweaty fuck to the bowl-haired brat," he clipped, his harsh words referring to Bertholdt and the suddenly irritated Marlo in particular. He didn't notice the quick look said soldier gave him as he said, "We're going hunting."

Mikasa hadn't reacted at first, still shocked by the turn of events in front of her. However, when she processed the new order a few seconds later, her metal-colored eyes glinted like fangs of reinforced steel. She turned to Levi, her coral lips a line as thin as paper.

"_Yes sir_," she hissed in absolute agreement, only too happy to draw her blades.

* * *

~000~

_**"Really Annie," **_growled the larger, his words low and venomous. His smile wasn't one of mirth at this point; but it was of sheer, insidious spite; meant to directly convey his next malicious intention. His voice went even lower in its resonance, the sound a mix between a rumbling growl and a hiss,_** "...After all the trouble we've been through to get you back, this is how you repay us? How shameful."**_

Annie scrabbled at his wrists unerringly, her desire to survive even more raw than ever. Steamy blood ran down the length of the Ape Titan's arms from where she _somewhat_ managed to break the coarse skin, but it was in minuscule trails thin enough to evaporate within the seconds it was exposed to open air. She tried to lift her legs up against his barrel-chest so to push him off, but his strength greatly surpassed her own weakened desperation. Her adrenaline reserves ran on fumes now, and she was so stupidly tired by now that if she fell unconscious again she'd be asleep about as long as she'd been in the crystal.

Internally, her human form was giving out; her mouth open wide and dragging in thick, heady breaths warmed by her Titan's body temperature. She knew she was dehydrated as well, her belly roiling with cramping hunger and fatigue while her pulse thundered ever higher from the effort of keeping herself alive. Annie couldn't even lift her own head at this point; somewhat glad that the Female Titan's tendrils pulling at her skull was keeping her supported. Her mouth has long since dried out, her eye-lids drooping steadily lower and lower with every minute.

_Dammit__. I'm too tired for this. I can't... I can't keep this up anymore. I can't even... think straight._

Eren writhed underneath Zeke, beyond pissed at this point after this dramatic turn in the battle's tides. He tried to maneuver his body in whatever way he could so to get a hold of _any _part of Zeke, clacking his jaws together in furious anticipation. He clawed at the ground and tried to pull his body free of the over-sized foe atop him, but all efforts were rendered useless.

Zeke squeezed even harder at Annie's throat meanwhile, his leering grin a prelude to whatever horror he had in mind for the future prisoner. The increased pressure would assure Annie's skull would pop right off of her neck; and then he'd be free to tear the younger shifter straight out of the nape. He'll take her home true to his word earlier; Zeke kept his word for the most part when it came to any promises he made, but its always with a twisted and warped idea in mind. He was unpredictable and obscured in whatever intent he cooked up, never truly caught off-guard in a sense. He meant whatever he said but kept other things hidden; he wasn't a liar considering, but he's certainly not a person who told the entire truth at times.

By now her Titan's sight was flickering in and out, while Annie's main body struggled with the added effort of keeping herself awake and alert. Lack of sleep and days worth of travel has worn her down to the bare bones, her brain swirling with whatever escape plan she'd tried to think of. Her sluggish mind could only draw blanks though, knowing full well there wasn't much she could do against someone of such impossible strength and artifice. Zeke's experience alone trumps whatever Eren and the girl made up combined, his intelligence excelling Armin's brilliance by leaps and bounds in comparison. How so very stupid of her for thinking they wouldn't need Armin's last resort snare; Annie had honestly believed she and Eren could've chanced Zeke and won.

Now how stupid was that?

There was a sudden pop and whirl of rotating metal close by, the larger shifter quickly releasing his unrelenting grip on her right after. He hurriedly threw himself off of Annie and Eren alike, his earth-rumbling roar drowning out the chaotic white-noise of burning buildings and frightened horses and people in the distance. The Female Titan shifter didn't see what caused the older man to suddenly relinquish his advantage there, but she was no less grateful for it. Her thin hand found its way to her largely collapsed throat, her gem-like eyes flying open and madly searching for the source of Zeke's newfound struggle. She and Eren both couldn't help but see it; the angry wad of hair in a frightful rage flopping backwards in a mad attempt to protect his broken weak-spot.

_What...?_

Annie's gaze stayed arrested on the spectacle; watching as Mikasa Ackerman and that freak super-soldier Levi went dashing through their enemy's flesh like it was melted butter. Up and down the Beast's enormous torso they flew, shredding the more sensitive regions such as the arms, wrists, ankles, legs, and etc in speeds presumed inhuman by many. They must've struck the nape first however when Annie took in a most unusual sight: Obscenely, the shifter himself was hanging half-way out, his upper body coated in cuts and blood. He struggled to retain his grip and control of the Titan's body, but his desperate expression was hint enough to his plight. One of Zeke's human arms had been severed from its fleshy connection completely while the other was a shattered wreck overall; his spinal column was most likely compromised seeing how he arched his back indicative of his inability to keep it aligned, the man's face revealing his primal desire to escape. He screamed for something, whether for some Titan help or Reiner's intervention Annie couldn't tell, but the sound was rendered incoherent by the noise the toppling 17-meter was causing. Less than a half-minute after the first attack from the two elites, the Ape-ish one fell away from the whole of his enemies, one of his hairy arms severed and his legs useless.

Now there was a chance to end this.

Annie let loose a rippling snarl of her own just as Eren did; the boy having come down to the same thought as she. The two giants rose to their feet and rushed over to the vulnerable shifter, forgetting any and all thoughts that remotely resembled human cognition. Annie was never one to lose herself to such violent animistic drive, but survival and victory seered away all other distractions; making her goal more clear-cut than ever. She was suddenly peeling away the cobble beneath her, extending her hands and throwing herself at the ruined foe in front of her.

Eren reached him first; Levi and Mikasa breaking away just as the two shifters made contact with Zeke. Jaeger's hands were suddenly tearing meat and flesh from bone like his finger-tips were tipped with claws, his feral abandon unmatched in terms of violence. Annie however was more tactful; hardening parts of her body and bringing them down with all of her remaining strength. She tried getting at the man still attached to his titan, doing her damnest to turn the over-sized enemy over so she could get to him. Zeke's massive body was durable as it was heavy however, so it refused to budge in order to protect the man controlling it. The Ape's legs were nigh-on useless too, but he still desperately tried to throw himself away from the uncontrollable wrath of the two younger shifters. He was struggling to run at this point, knowing the fight was lost. He turned his back, Levi and Mikasa suddenly in hot pursuit alongside Jaeger and Leonhardt; although the latter slowed her pace and watched with growing satisfaction as the sight of the fleeing Beast headed in the direction of the last snare.

Zeke's 17-meter body hurled itself over flattened buildings with unbelievable speed, ultimately saving him from the relentless Levi and Mikasa flying behind him. Eren however dogged his shadow with fevered purpose, his mouth practically frothing and his hands reaching and grazing at the Beast's ankles. Jaeger was just about to tackle his foe too, but Annie suddenly seized the inexperienced boy and pulled him hard by his brawny shoulder. It was useless to go after the hairy enemy at this point; seeing how he had only one usable arm and Annie still didn't want Eren caught up in the next events.

Which was right about now.

_"FIRE!"_

Erwin's brass command announced the final phase: a trap Annie herself knew all too well. Just as the gargantuan foe hopped into the area in front of Trost's barricaded gate, a sudden explosive cacophony of spiraling hooks began to eat their way into Zeke's already broken flesh. Eren's earlier attacks managed to give the barbs more anchorage into the deepest reaches of the body's tissue, the lack of thick skin in some places giving the hooks some advantage. Zeke's last hand covered his nape just before any of the stray hooks nearly embedded itself into his human form, but the act would only delay the inevitable; this Annie knew. Whole seconds passed in this noisy manner and still the trap continued, with every split-second more of the blood-hungry barbs would find their way into the Ape's body. It was only until the last of the cannons have emptied themselves would the painful ordeal finally come to a hissing end.

_Its over._

One would think its over-kill to use this kind of tactic after such a long battle, especially with a foe whose likely just as tired as Jaeger and Leonhardt; but for Zeke, he needed nothing short of something over-the-top in order to beat him. With his human form still exposed but snared in the Titan's body, he had no power to transform again and pull a cheap tactic that would end up killing his captors as Annie had done in Stohess. With that said, some of Melandus's men were surrounding the shifter and leveling their blades at the vulnerable man sitting defeated in his Titan's nape, their eyes promising to finish the job should Zeke feel inclined to budge. The Scouts converged onto the gigantine body itself, prepared to disable it further should the shifter get any ideas to struggle.

Satisfied with this sight, Annie felt her Titan body finally give out; falling onto its knees and slumping forward until her golden scalp bumped against another half-scorched building in front of her. Eren, who'd been somewhat gaping at the trap suddenly jerked at the sight of her toppling over; having not expected such a sudden event. He silently watched as the Female Titan died for the final time that night; the girl within too fatigued to care about whatever happens upon freeing herself. She was just a hair's width from passing out at this point, her ragged breath and clumsy hands tell-tale of her condition; her exhaustion made her movements jerky and exaggerated. A brief moment later she was seen breaking the nape's skin and easing herself free of the scarlet and pink tendrils tethering her to the corpse. The steamy release obscured the sight of the girl from any who saw her, not knowing what she was doing until they got close.

That's when Annie felt her eyes blur with the beginnings of her tears.

* * *

~000~

"End game," Armin sneered.

His plans pretty much always had room for a very unnervingly wide margin of error in them, but tonight all of these factors had contributed no less to the successful capture of the one and only General himself, plus Reiner and Bertholdt. He couldn't help but feel a deeply seated sense of pride bloom within his chest upon seeing the end result of all he and Annie's hard work. More than once he truly thought something would've went awry by this point; although he did have 'back-ups' in mind if indeed confronted with these dilemmas. Still, nothing would've worked as spectacularly well as what he was seeing now.

Suddenly, another reverberation shook the district, jerking Armin and the others out of their bated pause. The trembling sensation briefly instilled some panic within the boy; Armin almost actually believing that there was some other Titan in the district they could've missed. He calmed his jacked-up nerves when he looked over in Annie's general direction though, noticing the 14-meter she-titan has finally given out. He slowly moved away from his standing position next to Levi's team, his interest now firmly arrested on the likely delirious shifter making her way out of the Titan's nape. Reasonably, he was worried about her physical and mental condition right after all the shit they've endured during the night, feeling his stomach churn with guilt of having forced Annie to do what she did.

Fearlessly, he approached the girl whilst others kept their distance; having not forgotten what Annie was capable of and what she's done to them less than a few months ago. Mikasa observed as her childhood friend casually made his way over to the girl in question, standing a fairly good distance away with Levi beside her. Eren, still in Titan form largely shifted his gaze from Zeke to Annie as well, his emerald eyes vivid in the smoke-choked gloom. He bowed his great head and crouched beside the disintegrating corpse, his lurid gaze locked onto Armin and the fellow shifter whose finished pulling herself free.

As for Annie, she was seen shivering and crawling about on all fours on the shoulder of her Titan, not at all oriented but still managing to find her way down the sloping curvature in front of her. Armin observed this in pensive silence, patiently waiting for the girl who tossed her head like a crazed drunkard and fell into an unceremonious heap in front of him. He strode over and crouched down in front of her, setting his weight onto one of his knees while reaching out for one of Annie's wrists. Gingerly, he tugged at her, trying to get her attention onto himself so he could help her up; they couldn't rest yet he figured. They had to deal with Zeke first and then he had to get Annie out of here so she wouldn't end up like Reiner and Bertholdt in the long run.

The female shifter was largely unresponsive at this point, but she still noticed the ghostly sensation of a warm palm gingerly covering her wrist, her droopy eyes fluttering with recognition. The glistening rims around her reddened orbs suddenly caught Armin's attention next; surprising the boy as he noted the heavy tears building up at the corners. His gut clenched at what the whole ordeal of betraying her cause might've done to her mind-set, and seeing this only confirmed his suspicions. Annie had to turn into a whole other person in the span of just a few hours in order to have ended the battle the way she did; and this reversal likely left her emotionally vulnerable at that second. Seeing her cry like this left the legionnaire feeling even shittier then when he took her ring from her earlier.

"Armin," she breathed, interrupting his thoughts. Her body heaved deeply, her lungs unable to pull in enough air it seems. "I just... I'm just _so _fucking tired," she whispered while puffing in a strangled manner.

The boy nodded, glad to see that she wasn't totally out of it yet; but her condition was greatly debilitated and it bothered him. He managed a half-hearted smile that never quite met his eye and sighed, unable to find anything appropriate to say other than "Yeah" at that second.

Annie's other hand went to her forehead, sweat dripping off of her limb and face in a great deluge. She sat back on her calves next, her labored breathing a worrisome sight for Armin and the oncoming entourage behind him. Levi's team was seen steadily moving towards the pair, the captain's stern facade unreadable and Mikasa's agitated shuffling betraying her concern for the blond boy tending to Annie.

"Armin," she murmured again a short minute later.

"Hmm?"

Another breath, and then, "Just promise me... tell me that I made... that I made the right decision. The _right _one. The one that'll get me... home."

"'Course you did," he told her, as sure as he thought he could be. He then added lightly, "You'll be able to get out of here, and I'm make sure that-"

Armin was just about to finish following-up on this assurance until Annie's smaller body pitched forward; the motion so sudden and unexpected that Armin jerked slightly in surprise. Her head gently bumped against the boy's chest and irritated his fractured ribs, her exhaustion almost great enough to put her into another comatose sleep at that second. She didn't move from there, leaving the slightly embarrassed soldier to ponder on what he should be doing to help. He was dumbly flustered for some half-minute, completely and acutely aware of the likely ridiculous looks he was getting from his companions close by. Still, getting over his shyness in the best way he could, he briefly entertained a single idea he deemed somewhat appropriate. He wasn't sure if he should follow up with it anyway, but it was something he felt like he _could _do if not for the moment:

In a slow and familiar manner he knew Mikasa and Eren would do for him in times of some much-needed comfort, he placed a single hand on the top of her head, ghosting over the scalp in hesitation at first. His hand eventually inched down and rested at the bottom of her skull, his thumb moving in aimless motions behind her ear while the girl tried to get her bearings. His right hand stayed where it was on her wrist, but he elevated it and encouraged her to support her weight against him so she didn't have to keep herself propped up on her own anymore; her arms were shaking warningly as it is. Annie didn't fight anything the boy did, merely content with burying her face tiredly into Armin's thin shirt. Her super-heated skin was stupidly hot against his own clammier flesh, her platinum-blond hair a tangled, kind-of smelly mess on top of her sweat-moistened scalp.

Once she heaved a final sigh, the exhausted Scout closed his last eye in contemplation of their silence, taking the briefest of moments to finally relax himself despite feeling the numerous pairs of eyes lingering over them. His pounding skull suddenly felt ten pounds heavier now that the adrenaline-high has finally worn off, not even knowing that he was tipping forward enough to rest his own crown against hers the next second later. It was a peaceful aftermath, even for that one fragile, short, fleeting minute. It was as if the whole world and all of its bull-shit was just blissfully washed out and forgotten, Armin feeling his own body slowly start to unwind and shut out the noise of it all. He was pretty sure that was what Annie was feeling right now as well, seeing how she stopped her shaking and her breath began to pace itself again.

Suddenly, a noise jerked Armin out of his dazed reverie, turning to see Levi with his swords still in hand and slowly approaching them. He kept the now blunted blades below his waist-line in as a non-threatening manner as possible, but his eyes were coldly expressionless; making reading whatever his next intent was unlikely. Annie trembled almost imperceptibly at the sight of him, something Armin almost missed had he not been holding onto her; his own nerves having turned to ice and slightly numb his sense of touch when he first glimpsed the man coming towards them. When Levi stopped short of them, his posture went rigid with some sort of pent-up indecision. The captain blinked lazily as if he was sizing them up, suddenly releasing the useless blades from their hold and finally holstering the mechanisms. Armin watched the act warily, having thought for a heart-attack inducing second that he'll kill Annie for her past transgressions. Still, if he hadn't been surprised before he was certainly going to be down-right shocked the next time Levi moved:

One terse pause later, he was suddenly extending his hand towards the pair; the act a small but no less greater surprise in terms of scale.

He waited for Arlert or Leonhardt to move, his slanted eyes dull but not without some sort of obscured feeling pulsing behind them. Nobody in that area could possibly tell what the diminutive Scout was thinking about at that moment, but the only thing that _can _be discerned for sure was his sense of humanity he undoubtedly shared with the two kids sitting in their own filth in front of him.

Levi most likely still despised Annie with all of his shrunken heart and soul, considering that she'd slain too many of his good comrades and was held accountable for some of the trouble that's happened within recent months. But still, he was sensible enough to try and help the weakened girl out this one time, seeing that she sacrificed parts of herself in order to get to where she's at now. She'd risked her family, her life, and god knows what else just because Arlert asked her too; but she didn't have to do a damn thing considering that he cheated her several times that night as it is. Levi was just wordlessly impressed with this shift in her, so the least he could do was help her up. Internally though, even this change in Annie would never stop curbing the violent sensation of him wanting to sever the shifter's fucking arms in the future; but he'll tolerate her for the moment. Forgetting the past crimes was something he could do now; but forgiveness was another matter entirely.

As for everyone else watching the quiet scene, they pretty much had the same incredulous expression on their faces at this point; their shock striking the district with an air of queer silence. Mikasa, Jean and others blinked rapidly at the display, not knowing that Bertholdt and Reiner behind them were doing much of the same. The two shifters gaped openly despite their gags, watching as Armin graciously took the captain's hand and rose shakily to his feet while still holding Annie's wrist. The girl was slower and clumsier in her movements than Armin, but she too eventually drew herself out of her exhausted stupor and stood at her fullest height while keeping a carefully neutral and guarded look on her face. Her eyes never left Levi nor his hands, knowing all too well what he could still do to her with or without his blades. She even wiped away what remained of her tears with her free hand, somewhat inwardly abashed about how she might've looked now.

Less than a moment later, it was back to business; the whole squad making it back over to the other side of the building and observing as Erwin let out a series of orders that informed the Scouts to leave Zeke where he was. The shifter was still stuck in his titan body with his right human arm missing but healing; meaning that even if they extracted him now, he shouldn't be able to transform again. Still, caution was exercised nonetheless, so keeping Zeke attached to the disabled Beast's living body was probably a smarter idea at the moment. Melandus's men had their work cut out for them though as they continued to cut away at the hole in the nape to keep the man inside exposed.

Hanji, who'd been dancing nearby during these proceedings was practically vibrating on the spot now, her manic gleam giving Armin and the others a good reason to give the willowy woman a wide berth. Levi even murmured, "freaky shit-glasses" as they passed, although his words didn't sound nearly as harsh as usual. Eren stomped over as well, not quite sure if he should release his Titan power yet and resume his human form. Seeing the hesitation, Levi supplied a hand signal Armin wasn't too familiar with that confirmed the hidden query; mutely instructing the dark-haired giant to stand next to Zeke's fallen body and carefully observe him. Eren nodded and did just that; knowing that he'd have to kill the man lying within the nape if the unknown shifter should feel inclined to move. Jaeger parted his lip-less jaws in a menacing growl and folded his arms across his overly muscled chest, letting Zeke know _exactly _what he intended to do should he try to resist.

The older man's appearance was somewhat of a shock to Armin and the others at this point; having not expected to see the War-chief himself was just a simple-looking man that looked about Dr. Jaeger's age, if not slightly older. The strange thing was that his body absolutely _rippled _with heavy muscle every time he moved, likely gained from his many years worth of practice with his shifting art. He also somewhat resembled his Titan form; having the same clever face and eerily blank or calm expression, complete with the wild, although surprisingly light-colored hair on top of his head. His left arm however, it was a mess of scar tissue running down the lower length. Armin's only other thought after that observation was that Reiner and the younger shifters were probably way out of their league with this guy. His skill-set earlier has demonstrated that much.

_This Beast Titan shifter said Reiner beat him in a fair duel some short while ago, but I'm starting to wonder if that's __**really **__the case..._

As for the man himself, Zeke wasn't all that intimidated by the younger shifter glaring down at him nor the many humans hovering around him with their weapons drawn. His hooded gaze was locked solely onto one person in the entire square, his calculating expression making Armin feel somewhat smaller underneath the scrutiny despite the fact that he was only watching the girl next to him. It was off-putting to say the least.

"Annie," he uttered after some other extensive pause.

Zeke's somewhat deep voice broke across the vastly-dwindled ranks of people, his tone largely flat with the exception of some hint of disbelief. The aforementioned girl meanwhile froze, her eyes widening as the larger shifter singled her out. She glanced down at him, feeling her body coil again for the hundredth time that night.

"Why-?" He inquired, obviously more confused than angry about her sudden decision contrary to how he felt earlier. He furrowed his thick brow and inclined his head, "Why did you give up your only chance to go home... for this-? I don't understand."

The girl could only blink at the obscured query lying underneath the other question, her deer-like stare indicative of her own confusion and nerves. Her crystalline gaze lingered over the baffled shifter, analyzing the question over and over until he added,"Were you really a soldier in disguise, or are you a warrior waiting for her chance? I want to understand: You could've seen your father again, your home, and your life could've been as you wanted it. But this-" He shook his head in what appeared to be shame. "I've never pegged you the type to give something like that up; the very thing you gave your life for. These people aren't worth the price of all that, and I know you still feel that way somewhat. So why?"

The girl hesitated, her lips tightening into a paper-thin line. Her heart rate began jumping all over the place; something Armin could only feel through his contact with her. Keeping her hands firmly glued to her sides, she fought an internal debate unseen by those around her save for the boy watching her. However, the mental juggling between her decision and her mission was quickly settled, and steadily she found her words.

"I'm... not really either," she finally stated, her voice frail and somewhat weak-sounding. It grew only _slightly _as she went on, "I... never really gave up anything when I decided on this. And, I'm not really doing anything for these people... I still don't care about any of _them_ in particular. I did this because I _still _want to go home-" Her speech pattern was broken up, her exhaustion making her words short and her mind a clouded haze.

There was an odd, unexplained silence that hung around for a brief minute, most everyone's eyes having slowly focused on the suddenly uncharacteristically timid girl trying to find her answer. She hung her head next, "-I realized I've never been any good at being a warrior... and I didn't have a chance in Hell of actually completing the mission; seeing how I failed as badly as I did. I couldn't even beat Eren in a decent fight, let alone last as long as I did without having _someone _who doesn't want me dead in the end." She shook her head while weighing in her weakness, her body's language displaying her suddenly rueful nature. "-I hoped to find other options at that point, in any _way _that could help me still make it back at all. I got lucky when I found something that works... And then I realized- There were always different ways we've could've went about this, actually." She paused at this, trying to get her likely scrambled thoughts together. She then added with a bit more confidence, "Killing humanity was just one."

Zeke blinked up at her and frowned, his expression darkening. It had a slight parent-like scolding quality in, which seemed perverse considering his situation. There was some confusion there too, Annie's vague and not well-worded reply having no logical reasoning in it.

At this, the girl suddenly realized how strange her words must have sounded, and the more she tried to think about it the less sense it made. Freeing herself from Armin's reassuring grip, she stepped closer to the edge of the building and hoped that if she went on talking just enough maybe the pieces would better fit together better. She placed a hand on her chest and said, "You're a logical man, so I know you'll understand when I say this; you won't like it, and you'll probably despise me more for it, but its something I boiled down too it with some thought:

"...I could've went home if I found another way; and I realized this was the only thing I _can _do not too long after I woke up... I've been so dependent on you and the plan for so long that I've forgotten that I had other choices this whole time; I didn't need to kill so many people just for... just for _this_," she made a slight waving gesture as if to indicate something only Zeke knew; and sadly Armin and the other humans in the area couldn't follow due to the ambiguous-ness of the topic. It must've been something only Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Zeke all understood together because the latter was seen furrowing his brow even more.

She proceeded with a slightly stronger voice, "Capturing Jaeger was just one example of a way we could've done this. Destroying the walls was another, finding any other shifters, gathering any usable information, any of that could've worked. But," she paused at this, as if was she was just understanding this herself. "-All of these other methods failed in the end, making it impossible for us to go home even if we wanted to... not unless we did _something _right. Failing at all of these tasks effectively took away our reason to stay involved as warriors, making us disposable in the end... Looking back on it, I see that going along with this anymore would actually _further _endanger my chances of ever going back."

"So you decided you're better off quiting? Just like that?"

"Not really," she replied flatly. "I'm just using a different way that doesn't involve me being a warrior anymore."

Zeke looked very like he wanted to say something else here, but she pressed on with, "I told myself that if I ever had to do this without killing any more people, then I'll do that instead. Unlike you, I never liked killing, even though I just so happen to be good at it... But as I said, all the non-violent methods failed as well, eliminating my reason to stay on as a warrior." Her intense eyes drifted towards the ground some two stories below her, her voice now resigned but calm, "So how could I go back at all without deserting the main plan? ...The answer was, I simply couldn't; not without dying. You'd probably give my power to some other potential warrior after this failure; but frankly, I'd rather hold on to what I got. That said, I was stuck in this damnable indecision and no better off than when I was in the crystal. One way meant I get persecuted by you, and the other... it's 'do your job, or die'. There was no way I could win at this rate."

From behind Jean, Armin suddenly noticed Reiner and Bertholdt glancing at each other, the former's golden eyes flashing some seriously hard light as a thought came to him. Bertholdt's expression however was far more unreadable, blinking back a silent message to Reiner that Armin failed to understand. He didn't much like the stone-cold looks cemented to their faces though, feeling his gut start to twist with newfound apprehension. He made a mental note to watch them throughout the rest of the conversation.

As for Zeke, he inclined his head and let his expression grow only steadily darker, although it seemed the words did make some sort of warped sense to him considering his silence. He then finally said, "So you're sticking to a way that works? Without doing this job anymore?"

The aforementioned girl wrinkled her large nose at him and stared just as coldly back. "Yeah," she replied, although her answer betrayed some sort of uncertainty left in her.

"Foolish," he spat. "This last choice you came down to... I bet its Shiganshina, isn't it?"

Annie dipped her head and blinked almost impassively at the calm reply. Almost.

"I knew it," Zeke grumbled. "You think going to such an obvious, last-resort idea like that will save you from this? A laughable thought, Annie. Odds are, you're likely working with one of these people here who's promised to help you get home using this method; a bargaining chip if you will." He seemed to sneer at that, likely disgusted with the idea of her taking this plan all for herself. "They're _all_ equally likely to hurt and imprison you after what _you_ did, and I know you know this. When you get there, you'll probably just get disposed of after helping them along; so why indulge their little game if you _know _I could've brought you back if you just listened to me? I thought for sure you knew better than to go sucking up to them-? You didn't _have _to go along with this anymore, Annie. Trusting _any _of them, its purely ignorant thinking."

Annie flinched at the words once, confirming Zeke's suspicions. Despite this, she bared her teeth at the insult, her sapphire eyes burning with some sort of desperate ferocity. "No. A change in perspective isn't 'ignorant' at all," She shook it off suddenly, her trademark scowl slowly setting itself into place as a defense mechanism. "It's not like I could just go around trusting _**your **_word over anybody else's after you've threatened me; after all my failures. I don't care whether or not you were being sincere earlier; it would've been _sheer _stupidity to continue going along with you considering how you work. You're more likely to kill me than anyone here once I got back." She then added vehemently, "I stuck with the... reasons I know for sure made the most sense; and they're variables I know I can trust. But with you Zeke, you were asking me to rely on your word, after all our fighting. Your... unpredictability isn't something I want to confide in."

"'Unpredictability'? After I assured Reiner I'd stick to my end no matter what? After I promised him I'd at least put forth the effort of finding you and bringing you back? _Please_. Are you not listening to yourself?" Zeke barked back. "You're just grasping at any reason to justify your position now Leonhardt; all I'm getting is bull-shit from you on that note. You were _told _to treat this entire world as your enemy and you couldn't even do that right. By the sounds of it, I'm pretty positive at this point that you only did what you did because you _do _care for some of these worthless lives here; if not just that half-dead _brat _standing next to you."

Armin felt his anger start to seer away at his composure, wondering what the shifter was implying besides the fact that he'd seem to surmise that Annie had indeed trusted Armin's word. It was true; the female shifter followed along Armin's plan solely; and her sudden jerk gave Zeke his proof when he smiled smugly at the sight. Armin squared his shoulders and wrinkled his flushed nose, frowning at the shifter with a renewed (and severe) dislike for him.

Annie's fury however was extremely shallow at that point; bunching her shoulders and glaring down at the man with all of her remaining dregs of energy, her body shivering again. She angrily gestured, "-What would _you _know about that?! You result to brute force when you don't get your way. I bet you only _helped _Reiner because you felt you'd _gain _something out of this senseless violence besides pleasure! You probably threatened to kill him if he said otherwise."

Armin looked over at the said subject of their conversation, noticing the sullen expression that has taken over Reiner's features. Bertholdt's suddenly worried look seemed to confirm Annie's guess.

_After all the horrible things they do, why do I feel so bad for them? Does Annie mean... after all this time, they've only done this because they were forced too-? By this shifter...?_

_I don't know if that stands true or not, but it certainly isn't right either way._

Annie's frazzled nerves continued to burn away as she went on, "-And while we're on the topic, this bull-shit role as a warrior, it requires someone whose perfectly capable of throwing away their humanity, their feelings, possibly their life, while being completely okay with being despised by the rest of the world." Her heated words simmered down for a second before picking back up with, "I could never do it... and I can't stand it anymore as it is. But, it's something _you _wouldn't mind doing, seeing how you like being the way you are. You actually _enjoy _doing it... Killing, fighting, and destroying whatever you touch." Her eyes narrowed considerably just then, spitting out with all of her barely contained disgust, "-Its _foul_."

Zeke lifted his lips off of his sharpened teeth, his nostrils flaring open while he pulled at the wires pinning him down. "How short-sided, even for you," He snarled. "Don't you understand, Annie? I have to be that way; if I spent every minute of my long life hating my job, I'd wind up dead from just being so damn sick of it all- or at least as miserable as you. And speaking of you..." His stare became something even more menacing, "You've been fed _their _ignorant dogma so much by now that you actually sound like one of these stupid people trying to deny their wrong-doings. Like you honestly believe that you can escape from all of your horrid atrocities. Remember Shiganshina? _You're _the one who actually _commanded _the Titans to attack; not me. And that expedition I heard about? I'd wager you _loved _traisping about swatting everybody like flies. You always loved to show-case your technique- your abilities as whole whenever you could."

Armin felt his eyes dart over to his friends close by, seeing that this public argument has turned into a personal topic that wasn't meant to be heard by so many individuals around. He wanted to say something to break it up, but he was fresh out of ideas tonight. Jean and him shrugged at each other as Eren shifted his gaze briefly away from Zeke, feeling a little out of place. Reiner and Bertholdt's expressions were impossible to read at this point.

Sasha grumbled so lowly that Armin almost utterly missed it, "Geez. This guy is down-right crazy."

"You ain't foolin'," Connie agreed.

As for Annie, some of her bluster seeped out of her next, although her decision remained firmly in place. "I won't lie; I did bring those Titans to Shiganshina, I've lead them into Maria as well and the Expedition too. But you also forgot to mention Trost a few months back; besides Bertholdt, I did that too. And yeah, I like showing off my skill. So what?" She shrugged it off almost serenely at that. She shook her head again, "I'll correct you in one matter though; I still stand by what I said a moment ago, and its that I despise killing. I did do those things, but never once did I enjoy the thought of taking lives..."

She lifted her head almost proudly as she went on, "I'm not eating the crap you're trying to feed me anymore, Zeke. Its shit logic. You wanted me to help you finish destroying humanity, or help you escape with the coordinate, but I'm done. I've given you my answer why I won't continue along with this farce anymore. Period." She then added with a note of absolute finality, "I've found my own way home, Zeke, and I don't intend on letting anyone else take that from me. I certainly don't need your '_leadership_' to get me there anyhow."

"...Then... there's no saving you," Zeke growled, his small eyes largely obscured by his unruly hair. "You've rejected any and all help I've offered you, and now you're going to suffer for it alongside with these idiotic humans here. I hope you're content with this Leonhardt; because its a decision you're going to regret making. I'll make _sure _you never even make it to Shiganshina."

He looked up past her and at the shifters behind Jean and Mikasa, his expression calm and blank again. He casually threw at them, "I've kept my end of the promise Reiner. I've tried to get her back as you asked, tried reasoning with her, but she's apparently defected. Seeing how we've finished what we came here for, I'd recommend we take the coordinate and leave. Don't you think so?"

Armin felt his gut sink, wondering why in the blue Hell was Zeke so calm for; especially since he's so vastly out-powered and surrounded at this point. He had blades stuck in both titan and human body alike; courtesy of Melandus's squadron. He couldn't move a single inch of his gigantine hairy flesh, and Reiner certainly couldn't do a damn thing with he being the way he was now. Bertholdt fared no better; and the two couldn't transform if they were so close to each other anyway. Armin turned to look at the subject of Zeke's attentions again but the last thing he expected in that split-second was a sudden movement at the corner of his eye: A chaotic curtain of red blanketed his vision and a sound of wet groan followed the display.

The next series of events was a maelstrom of confusing color and sound; undefined in any amount of detail due to the speed of their occurrence.

Reiner's swift attack startled Annie and the others, both she and Armin only just then realizing that the fellow shifter has gotten free of his captors. The act was so blindingly fast that no one person comprehended the act of him taking his boot and swiping it at the unfortunate Marlo across from him, freeing Bertholdt in the process. He'd cut the poor boy's throat and nearly severed the main artery, a fountain of crimson gushing out in a light rain creating an ample distraction and panic amongst the squad. Hitch just then screamed something undiscernable, Connie and Sasha suddenly knocked aside by the rising Bertholdt. Jean was attacked next; unable to retaliate against the sudden charge used to knock the long-faced teen senseless. Blood streamed from the new knife wound in his chest next, Bertholdt having kicked the unsuspecting Jean and hurling him off the building.

"JEAN!" Connie bellowed, going to dive after him.

Armin didn't move immediately, though he knew he should have reacted by now. He stood frozen in shock, wondering why he hadn't thought to search the larger boy for any hidden weapons when they first captured him. It should've been a lesson learned after Annie's daring escape back in Stohess; and yet he overlooked such a strong detail.

_He... he had a knife in his shoe-?!_

How stupid of a boy could he be? Of all places to put a hidden weapon; he didn't think of the possibility of a knife in the being concealed in a shoe's bottom.

Nonetheless, Reiner's brazen act gave Bertholdt some liberty to move, using his own shoe to cut the binds holding his friend's hands together in one graceful move. Now free, Reiner deftly turned to greet the charging Mikasa, dodging out of her cross-cleave cut meant to rip the burly shifter apart. Reiner was still inhibited by the blades stuck in his back, left-over from Armin's earlier strike, but he certainly seemed unbothered by them otherwise. If anything, he was seen suddenly reaching behind to grab both of the twin swords; tossing one to Bertholdt while he drew the other weapon to bare against Mikasa.

"Ackerman! Keep him close!" Levi sharply ordered, knowing full-well that with his injuries present Reiner could transform at any time. With Bertholdt so near, the shifter shouldn't feel so inclined to transform yet, hopefully.

Eren was suddenly distracted with the scene himself, his concern for his team-mates allowing him to not notice that Zeke had commanded one of the arms on his Titan body to move. The noise of the straining wires and metal caught Jaeger's attention too little too late; ultimately getting struck in the head by a hardened fist meant to knock the younger boy out for the second. The men that had Zeke's human body pinned down originally were thrown off by the sudden attack as well, the Scouts surrounding the Beast getting caught along the tangling wires. Erwin and Hanji together close by shouted for the order to kill the struggling 17-meter, but the few survivors around wouldn't be able to do much. They nonetheless tried to attack Zeke anyway, but the larger Titan was already beginning to undo his binds. Strong as he was, it would still take him some time to get fully free.

At the same time, the captain went to keep Bertholdt from escaping while Mikasa engaged Reiner; although the Colossal shifter was already leaping away before the shorter man could even reach him. Thankfully, Levi was fast enough to keep Bertholdt from getting any further with a vicious attack to the legs, trying to sever one or the other. Said shifter retaliated of course, perfectly able to block each swing but with the cost of a slightly delayed reaction every impacting strike. Levi's attacks were every bit as powerful and fast as Mikasa's, wearing down the taller boy's strength with every singing clang of flexible steel.

By now, Eren was already getting up and ready to go again, but Zeke proved resourceful when he grabbed some of his wires and hurled the loosened cannons at the boy, getting Eren caught in the snag as well. Jaeger was intelligent enough to thrash around so much at this, but Zeke was already throwing himself at the boy with the intent to rip him of out his Titan form. Both the 15-meter and the more imposing 17-meter were suddenly tussling about relentlessly in the area, endangering the human lives closest to them.

Armin could only watch this whole swath of confusion in roiling anger, feeling his tired body once again coil in cold expectancy of battle. He went to draw fresh blades again, feeling his already fragile nerves start to fall apart at their seams and the sweat build up at his temples. However, just before he could even figure out how he was going to help he was suddenly grabbed his wrist and dragged away from the more disorderly mass of bodies; not knowing it was indeed Annie who was saving him- again.

"What're you doing-?!" He almost yelled.

"We're in the way!" She cried over the noise. "Its too late to do anything!"

Armin struggled to free himself from her grip, but her words started to sink in once he analyzed them. He took the split-second to glance around despite being towed behind the girl at an energetic pace he didn't think she could perform at, easily seeing the reason for her alarm when he saw what became of Mikasa's battle. His heart thunderously boomed in his hot ears, his gut knotting itself in mute horror when he saw the following:

In less than half a minute, things have gone from shit to Hellish: While Armin has had his attention arrested on the other battles _seconds _ago, Mikasa never really got the chance to draw fresh blades; seeing how she was still using the same ones from her battle with Zeke earlier. She'd been in such a hurry to cut off Reiner's escape route when he first escaped that she neglected such a minute detail. Reiner had finished breaking her swords with one good cut meant to sever her head originally, her attempt at blocking having shattered the steel in the process.

Still, the oriental girl utilized the shortened swords to defend against the larger's attack, her teeth gritted and her body pushing itself to its limit in terms of speed. She was deftly faster, but Reiner was a lot better off; his blade having been in better condition making all the difference in the world. And unlike she, he had _far _more energy, weight, and strength to spare; Mikasa having been worn down along her ride to Trost and in the battles preluding this one. Reiner didn't take long to cut her down just a notch; his larger blade literally reaching past her guard and lodging its tip into her shoulder. It was just enough to get the girl off his ass for the split-second she back-pedaled, leaping away in a fantastic rush to give himself and Bertholdt some reasonable distance. It was probably a freakishly lucky stroke for the Armored shifter, but it was a blessing he was well-using seconds later when he brought his hand to his face:

"_MIKASA_!" Armin screeched frantically at the top of smoke-strained lungs, still being dragged helplessly away by the fleeing Annie.

His desperate scream snagged the attentions of the other surrounding individuals as well, man, woman and shifter alike briefly looking to see the commotion taking place. The last thing any of them expected at that moment (with the smug exception of Zeke), was the disappearance of Reiner in a fantastic gold-green light. Levi was already disengaging Bertholdt in a mad effort to stop the inevitable, his onyx glare firmly arrested on his goal.

_**BOOM.**_

A high-pitched ringing followed the destructive flash of light, its resonance so intense it stopped all the maddening battles surrounding it within the seconds it was heard. It wasn't nearly as loud or as showy as the Colossal Titan's emergence, but it was no less of a sight: Dread spiked its way through the more unwary survivors around, others still left unable to move at the sad expectation of what was coming. The rising vapor columns mostly covered the hulking figure standing within it, but the single glint of reinforced skin and metal confirmed what Armin already knew.

The end of the Second Attack of Trost.


End file.
